Written by: The Administrator
Prepare yourself, dear reader, for some stoner doom. Some lumbering stoner doom. Some lumbering mammothian stoner doom. Some lumbering mammothian psychedelic stoner doom. Some lumbering mammothian psychedelic groove-laden fuzzy megafaunic stoner doom. Some... Anyways, that's what we're dealing with here. Acid Mammoth are back for a fourth round in the ol' riff arena, Supersonic Megafauna Collision as their champion. If you're familiar with this crew's past work, you know the score. Acid Mammoth are, in my book, one of the premiere stoner doom bands active today. They are consistent, colorful, and make music that doesn't get bogged down in its own aura and atmosphere. The riffs are repetitive yet groovy and classically hooky, and the songwriting is intriguing enough to leave room for a little psych meandering without losing the thread too entirely. While I personally enjoy the vocal tone and find it to contrast nicely with the fuzzed out heft, I can see the vocals being a sticking point for some--they embrace a whining reediness. I've seen complaints that the album doesn't provide enough variation, and while the general scope of the album is pretty well established by the second track, we're not exactly here for innovation. If you're inclined to be bored by long-form psychedelic doom, this won't change your mind on the genre, particularly as the album approaches the tail end. But! Supersonic Megafauna Collision isn't about innovation--it is about the charming and quality reproduction of a formula that has been proven to work exceptionally well. I consider this the band's best work yet. If you're on the hunt for that good ol' lumbering mammothian psychedelic groove-laden fuzzy megafaunic stoner doom, Acid Mammoth will do nicely. Acid Mammoth - Supersonic Megafauna Collision was released April 5th, 2024 via Heavy Psych Sounds. Find it here!
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Written by: The Administrator
No time for a superfluous introduction. Here is a collection of things I love about Principality of Mechanical Violence, the latest album from death metal duo Soulmass. Let us begin. Firstly, I love the album artwork. I am inclined to judge a book by its cover, and the case of this gorgeous piece by Samuel Nelson, I was immediately struck by the evocative palette and setting. Here, Samuel has captured a moment in time so articulately as the moon rises over a prone gundam. This is the gloaming; the moment where dusk becomes night. I generally adore heavy usage of pinks and purples, and the color of the logo is warm and wonderful, full stop. The color scheme in general feels quite unique in the world of death metal, and stands out from the crowd. It is by far one of the best covers I've seen this year.
Welcome to the second edition of DEMO(LITION) DERBY, a relatively new column dedicated solely to demos. Bolstering our underground cred since 2024!
Written by: The Administrator
Upon receiving permission to injudiciously trawl the depths of the Sleeping Village's promo pit for demo tapes, our hardworking Pit Herder caught and subsequently presented a writhing haul. A legendary catch. Turns out there's a lot of 'em, folks. It seems like demos are all we're eating these days, and so here is a brief writeup of one of my recent favorites. tethered is a quartet out of London, and this very strong 5-track demo indicates that they are intent on hitting the ground running. Leaning into an overtly emotive DIY aesthetic, tethered state that they are attempting to "bridge the gap between some of the more introspective elements of mid 90's emo and the raw energy of hardcore." In this particular scribe's opinion, they have nailed the execution, and they inherent rough-around-the-edges demo quality only exemplifies their success. This is some vehement and impassioned stuff, particularly in the case of vocalist Rose's intense delivery. Her singing reminds me of an overexposed polaroid, bringing both a sense of nostalgia and a timeless overblown emotive rawness. Take, for example, the strained and vicious "shred." The refrain of "no more patience no more peace" feels like spite incarnate, and the following verse is vengeful in a way that feels both sharply targeted and extremely real. Rose's delivery is hurried, leaving very little room for breath between words, which in turn leads to some heart-palpitating urgency. This trend of energetic emotion is displayed through the demo, and the instrumentation often matches the forward thrust of the vocals. On this note, the drums are notably present across the short breadth, a leading factor in the overall forward momentum of the tracks. On opener "torches," for example, I initially found myself following the drums more than the guitar, which almost serves more texturally. That's not to discredit the riffage, however--I particularly enjoy the jarring guitar work on the spirited "motorhinder." All told, tethered have good reason to be proud of this demo. It is well-constructed, rough and raucous without feeling over the top, and feels exceptionally heartfelt. I'm looking forward to hearing more--should they release an official debut, I'll certainly be checking it out! tethered - demo was released digitally August 19th, 2023, and saw release on cassette via strictly no capital letters. Find it here!
The Sleeping Village has been around for a few years now, and during that time, a lot of reviews have unceremoniously disappeared into the dark confines of our archives, destined to never see the light of the front page again. Music appreciation, however, is a timeless affair, and in that spirit, here is a review retrieved from the deep dark depths.
Written by: The Administrator (originally published Jan. 5th, 2020)
If medical waste is unceremoniously disposed, as I like to imagine, in a dumpster out back behind the hospital, San Jose's Aseptic is the resulting viscera stew that oozes from bio-hazard bags and pools in the bottom. Not sure what I mean? Just imbibe in the sluicing juices and slimy riffage of the intro to Cascading Fluids. If you're still having trouble painting said picture--and god help you if that's the case--it may help to take note of the irrefutable fact that this EP legitimately sounds like it was recorded in a dumpster. Hyperbole aside, this is good stuff. If you happen to be familiar with Aseptic’s stellar Senses Decay EP, just know that this is an entirely different kind of beast. Same killer riffs, but the aesthetic is stripped to the bone.
Written by: The Administrator
Let's clear this up right out of the gate: Trocar are gross. Not cutesy gross, but fundamentally and irrevocably gross. Repugnancy has been the name of the game for these (literal) organ grinders, and their debut full-length is accordingly stomach-churning. If you're unfamiliar with Trocar, just consider that the band composition consists of two members of Fluids (Jan Grotle and Walter Hale) alongside death metal connoisseur Schuler Benson, who you may know from @deathmetalradio infamy. Given the lineup, please extrapolate. The sum of the component parts is bound to be bloody, unsettling, grotesque. Anyways. The bluntly and accurately entitled Extremities was released April 5th via Selfmadegod Records, and if you've enjoyed Trocar's work thusfar across various splits and EPs, you'll enjoy this. Indeed, in my opinion, this is their best work yet. A genuine level up. It may be the sonic equivalent of a garbage bag filled with medical waste left in the sun for, oh, a couple of decades, but Extremities is the finest grind I've had pleasure of consuming in quite some time. DR. COLOSSUS feat. Chris Penney - Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me - Alice Cooper cover (Mini-Review)4/6/2024
In a continuing attempt to cover more music that would all-too-oft slip through the very large cracks, we slumbering scribes are making an effort to publish short reviews at a greater frequency, thereby shining our very small spotlight on more cool shit. Here's a mini-review of a cover track worth checking out.
Written by: The Administrator
If you're unfamiliar with Australia's wonky and wonderful Dr. Colossus, here's an elevator pitch: stoner rock overtly inspired by The Simpsons. Their excellent 2021 album I'm a Stupid Moron With an Ugly Face and A Big Butt and my Butt Smells and I Like to Kiss My Own Butt easily made my list of favorite albums of that year, and standout track "Pickabar" in particular remains in constant rotation. I love Dr. Colossus' riffcraft and hooky songwriting, I love their goofy commitment to homage, and, it should also be noted, I love the source of inspiration to a degree that everyone around me may very well consider obnoxious. In short, Dr. Colossus are a band seemingly built for my particular set of interests, and I thus follow their movements with great interest. Their latest single, "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me," is a cover of a largely underappreciated Alice Cooper track that, in and of itself, is a Simpsons reference. Originally appearing on the Japanese edition of Brutal Planet, and then the limited special edition of Dragontown, it's not exactly a well-distributed classic. It is, however, a fun lil' banger with a simple driving riff, a catchy chorus, and some classically Cooper sing-along lines. Dr. Colossus present a faithful recreation with very little deviation, down to the nice solo towards the rear. This adherence to source material certainly isn't a bad thing--the original track is a solid rock tune and funny as hell, chock full o' the kind of batshit lyrical content that only Alice Cooper can realistically get away with. The reference to Bart in his spooky clown bed aside, this is inherently silly stuff. Night is rhymed with...night. There is mention of the titular clown's "big old floppy shoes." And the second verse contains the following, managing to wrap Ronald MacDonald into the whole affair: "And if you think this isn't real / I'll show you wounds that never heal / to them I'm just a happy meal." To me, this is poetry. This was a smart track to cover, and the result is a highly enjoyable listen. The cover doesn't add new material to the tune, but it reinvigorates and gives it a well-deserved resurrection. While I am excited for a new Dr. Colossus album, these random standalones over the past few years have been pretty damn enjoyable. 'Nuff said! Check out "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me" below. On the very occasional Friday, a wagon arrives at the Sleeping Village’s crumbling gates, stuffed to the brim with sustenance. Today is the day we must offload all this new music, and so, in the process, we thought it would be worthwhile to share some choice cuts from this veritable mass of fresh meat. This is what we’ll be--and have been--listening to today here at the Village HQ. We hope you join us in doing so! On the docket for today, April 5th, 2024 Witch Vomit, Temple of the Fuzz Witch, Funeral Leech, and Lurcher
Written by: The Administrator
After spending a long day trudging through a world that seems fully intent on chewing me up and spitting me out, the first thing I want to do is listen to a band that seems fully intent on chewing me up and spitting me out. No, literally, the very first thing. I get in my car, crank that angry spiteful music, and enjoy life for a little while. Enter Kingston-upon-Hull's Mastiff. Prime candidate for a wholeheartedly cathartic commute. Deprecipice, the band's fourth full length, marks a shift into more overt hardcore waters, allowing the grind, sludge, and deathier elements of their prior work to take more of a back seat. That's not to say, of course, that those qualities have dissipated--more that they have been more fully and organically incorporated into a (somehow) meaner and harder Mastiff sound. We can churn out descriptors all damn day. Deprecipice is seething, ugly, belligerent, harrowing, punishing, relentless, crushing, bleak, vengeful. There's an implicit curiosity that arises from the band's uniquely gnarly intimidation factor: just what level of violence are Mastiff actually capable of? They can howl and roar and batter the flimsy wooden fence in Beast-esque fashion, but what happens when they actually get their hands on you? There's tension in the implication. This is a massive album, rage-fueled and roiling, and as good as their discography is thusfar, I consider it to be far and away their best work to date. Written by: Crypt Tender Another edition of ON THE HORIZON? The fact that this oft-forgotten segment is experiencing a sudden limelight indicates that A. there is a lot of good music in the pipeline, and B. we inhabitants of the Sleeping Village have tapped into a mystic pool of motivation, becoming, I can only imagine, annoyingly prolific in the process. We have a strict policy that any crypt-related items are sent directly to me, the illustrious and revered Crypt Tender [break for polite applause, sounds of fearful admiration]. As such, the entities that oversee the promo pit have gifted me this release announcement and accompanying lead single from heavy metal doomsters Crypt Sermon. I haven't yet had the pleasure of drinking deep of the forthcoming The Stygian Rose, out June 14th from Dark Descent Records, but I have played "Heavy Is The Crown of Bone" no fewer than ten times since receiving. Which, if we're being honest, makes me a bit of an expert on the matter.
The Sleeping Village has been around for a few years now, and during that time, a lot of reviews have unceremoniously disappeared into the dark confines of our archives, destined to never see the light of the front page again. Music appreciation, however, is a timeless affair, and in that spirit, here is a review retrieved from the deep dark depths.
Written by: The Administrator (originally published July 6th, 2019)
Sometimes a band has a almost-but-not-quite grand debut, the kind of album that bears the weight of rookie flaws, but speaks of something larger to come. And then, sometimes, said band delivers tenfold on their next outing, absolutely shattering notions of sophomore slump. And sometimes the groggy-eyed scribe who said he'd review the album in a timely manner spends two months mulling over how best to put his enamorment into words. And that lands us here, with Wolf Blood’s II spinning for what seems the umpteenth time. Wolf Blood is one of those bands who revel in throwing a bevy of ideas at the wall and hoping they stick. Unlike most who engage in such reckless activity, these folks are really damn good at making sure it all stays up there. It’s purely original stuff, and in this business, that's a significant and rare quality. |
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