End of Year Round-Up for The Sleeping Shaman

It’s kind of preposterous that of all of the dedicated writers here at the Sleeping Shaman that I should be one of the ones to attempt to round up the year in heavy music on its behalf. For starters, I am one of the new kids on the block, having only joined the writing staff here in June and even I would have to admit that I’ve not been the most prolific of writers (as the Sleeping Shaman himself will no doubt attest.) But as a critic, a fan, and a member of an active band I think I’ve seen this year’s releases and events from a variety of angles, so I’ll try to summarise the year in a well-rounded and “Universal” way. As an added disclaimer, I should mention that my ‘area’ is doom, stoner and sludge so apologies in advance if your musical preferences or favourite bands get severely over-looked.

However, I think most of you will agree that it’s been an excellent year for alternative music. There have been new releases from bands like Earth, Electric Wizard, Boris, Ramesses, Weedeater, Wolves in the Throne Room, Rwake, Yob, Mastodon, 40 Watt Sun, Thou, Atlas Moth, Cave In, Cannabis Corpse, Sourvein, Sepultura, Machine Head, Premonition 13, Chelsea Wolfe, Orange Goblin, All Pigs Must Die, Hank Williams III, Primus, Anthrax, and even reunited nu-metal arse-clowns Limp Bizkit. Best of all, Lou Reed and Metallica inexplicably teamed-up to release one of the most talked-about [translation: derided] albums of the year and James Hetfield surely won “The-most-preposterously-earnest-vocal-delivery-of-a-preposterous-lyric” award for “I am the table!” As a life-long Lou Reed fan I at least got a small amount of joy out of the sheer ridiculousness of it all although it seems that a few Metallica fans now want Reed dead. At this point I don’t think either artist can sully the other’s career…

On the other hand it’s been a great year for up-and-coming bands such as Conan, Sigiriya, Slabdragger, Serpent Venom, Cultura Tres, Wiht, Wizard’s Beard, Undersmile, Grifter, Dopefight, Dead Existence, Alunah, Pombagira, Dopethrone, Windhand, Desert Storm, Tree of Sores, Five Will Die, Banda de la Muerte, Gurt, Meadows, and Bastard of the Skies who’ve all either gained praise for their recorded material or live performances, or both. Again, apologies to any of the hundreds of excellent new bands I’ve missed – it’s a good sign that there are literally far too many to mention here.

On the live front Download Festival was met with a mixed response, while Damnation, Supersonic, and Roadburn 2011 went down extremely well. The fact that next year’s Roadburn Festival sold out in seven minutes is a testament to the strength of the frankly ridiculous line-up which includes (the reformed) The Obsessed, Sleep, Yob, diSEMBOWELMENT, curators Voivod plus far too many other excellent bands to even begin listing. In short, it’s going to be fucking ace and it sucks to be you if you’re not there.

In other news, stoner-legends Kyuss returned to the live circuit (albeit under the probably legally-imposed name Kyuss Lives! and minus original guitarist Josh Homme). On the 11th of the 11th (possibly at 11.11am) heavy metal doom kings Black Sabbath announced that the original line-up was to reform to headline Download Festival 2012, to undergo a world tour and to record a new album. Whether this means we’ll get some classic Black Sabbath/Paranoid/Master of Reality/Vol. 4-era riffage or Never Say Die! era rock n’ roll drivel remains to be seen. Fingers crossed that it won’t suck a huge fat one.

Finally The Sleeping Shaman itself has gone from strength to strength, particularly since it got a revamp in July, and now has more visitors than ever thanks to you lot and an ever-expanding group of writers and music enthusiasts spreading the word. As well as new reviews appearing on the site almost every day, there have been more news stories being reported, and exclusive streams of albums by the likes of Paul Catten (Lazarus Blackstar, The Sontaran Experiment) with plenty more where that came from in the New Year. Everyone at The Sleeping Shaman would like to thank you for reading and sharing the site and allowing it to expand into a one-stop shop for all of your metal, doom, sludge and general alternative music needs. Don’t forget that you can show some Sleeping Shaman love by purchasing a Sleeping Shaman exclusive t-shirt – you know you want to stuff one in your loved-one’s stocking. Get them here!

So until the world comes to an end (possibly during Bongripper’s Satan Worshipping Doom Roadburn set), here’s to 2012 kicking as much arse as 2011 did.

[Originally published on The Sleeping Shaman, 22/12/11]

http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/articles/tom-mckibbin-reflects-on-the-year-that-was-2011/

Listing Ships - The 100 Gun Ship

(American Steam Company, 2011)

One of the musical revelations of music in Oxford in 2011 has been the emergence of Listing Ships, a band whose 90s-post-rock-leaning demo ‘Maiden Voyage’ we enthused about earlier in the year. Along with a couple of god-awful nautically-themed puns, we said that record was like “a nineties alternative and post-rock nostalgia trip, combining elements of Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins and Tortoise to create [anthemic, vast soundscapes]“.

The 100 Gun Ship is Listing Ships’ first EP and the debut release on their own American Steam Company label. Considering that the three songs from their demo appear on this EP in their original forms, there’s no point regurgitating the praise we lumped on them last time (especially when you can just go read the review here). So onto the new. Opening track ‘The 100 Gun Ship’ is the most ferocious thing the band have released so far, beginning with a driving bassline that anchors the layers of guitar and electronics, giving them free reign to expand out and muddy the atmosphere. After such a ferocious start, ‘Melusine Romance’ is, in stark contrast (and for lack of a better term), the ‘loveliest’ thing we’ve yet heard from the band; all fluttering guitars and sudden unexpected bursts of distortion. The song conjures up the various bittersweet emotions associated with the choppy waters of love, which is especially appropriate given the song name, and there is plenty of tension thrown in for good measure. ‘Then Venice Sank’ brings it all back to Krautrock territory (think Neu!) – the dominant influence on this EP.

For my tastes, the New Rose Hotel remix of ‘Equus Ager’ that closes the EP is a little superfluous; perhaps the band felt that it was a worthy or necessary inclusion because The 100 Gun Ship is essentially an expanded version of ‘Maiden Voyage’ – but for all its pleasant atmospherics, the song doesn’t particularly add to the collection besides to create a feeling of being submerged under water. Never mind, it’s a minor gripe on what is an otherwise great EP from a band who are getting better with each release.

[Originally published on MusicInOxford.co.uk, 09/12/11]
http://www.musicinoxford.co.uk/2011/12/09/listing-ships-the-100-gun-ship-american-steam-company/

Banda De La Muerte - ST

(Self released, 2010)

Argentina’s Banda De La Muerte are a testament to the strength of the growing and diverse metal scene in the South American continent, the same scene that boasts bands such as Los Natas [Argentina], Cultura Tres [Venezuela] and Avernal [Arg]. When I recently spoke to Cultura Tres front-man Alejandro Londono he spoke about the sense of camaraderie between this community of South American metal bands, bands who actively support and promote one another.

This network of like-minded musicians recently manifested a successful festival in Buenos Aires called South American Sludge, an event that brought these bands together and which helped to establish the scene as a credible and palpable entity. Banda De La Muerte are something of an anomaly, however, because they play Rock n’ Roll with a stoner twist .

Case in point is ferocious opening track “Dos Huesos” which comes across like a combination of Kyuss, Pantera and Queens of the Stone Age with the groove of the former two and the drive of the latter. It’s a great kick-start to this eight-track album and a real statement of intent from a band that may be new to many European listeners. Very soon into this quick-blast of an album it becomes apparent that while Banda De La Muerte are far from musical innovators, they’ve taken a desert scene framework and built a collection of interesting, arresting songs full of ideas, unexpected melodies and Latin flavour. “Cuando No Hay Mas Que Perder”, “De La Muerte” and “Esqueleto” all have plenty of Songs for the Deaf-era QOTSA pomp and velocity about them, which can only be a good thing, but there are also plenty of little surprises along the way.

It’s not fair to say that all of the songs on the album are desert grooves either; “Madera Sagrada” is an unadulterated hardcore punk song, thrashing along in less that one and a half minutes, kicking your teeth-in in the process. Likewise, “Los Ojos Del Diablo” starts off like Kyuss but half way through the song takes an unexpected turn, sounding like early Korn with John Otto behind the kit. In a good way, surprisingly. Many of the songs on the album would be best described as stoner-punk as they have too much passion and intensity to be straight-up stoner tunes and too much groove to be conventional punk songs. Final track “A Traves De La Sangre” is a slow-burner, a kind of ballad but packed with riffs.

Where the album might divide opinions is in the vocal delivery of singer Xon. His singing style veers between a power-rock holler and a Lemmy-style growl and some of the vocal melodies may seem a bit too familiar and middle of the road for some listeners. I must admit that at first I didn’t think much of the vocals either way, but eventually the melodies won me over and I actually found myself enjoying the unabashed retro quality of Xon’s voice. Listen to the first few songs and, just like your first taste of marmite, you’ll soon find out whether you love it or hate it.

It took a few listens for this album to click – perhaps it was the language barrier but more likely it was the subtleties in the songs that only revealed themselves after the third or fourth play. The vocal melodies that at first seemed shamelessly retro and cheesy actually became ingrained in my head, riffs slowly fell into place in my mind and lead guitar parts buried in the mix sprung forth to add a new dimension to the songs. This isn’t an album that’s going to blow your mind but it’s a solid stoner rock album that will serve you well on car journeys, whether down long, straight roads through the Palm Desert or up the M5 on a wet Tuesday morning. The quality of the performances, the crisp production and the accessible feel of the album make this a fantastic introduction to those of you wishing to dip your toes into the South American Sludge scene. But as we’ve already established, this ain’t South American Sludge, this is South American Rock n’ Roll.

[Originally published on The Sleeping Shaman, 7/12/11]
http://www.thesleepingshaman.com/reviews/album-reviews/b/banda-de-la-muerte-st-cd-2010/