Doombringers

Doom can go one of two ways. It can either be this torrid slow dirge of despair and the introspective exploration of ones own wrenching emotions, or it can be this torrid slow dirge of death, devastation, living sacrifice, and demonic obsessed destructive force.

I'm opting to go for the latter version of Doom for this post. I do enjoy eloquent Doom bands of the former aforementioned style which I will cover in future posts but today I'm feeling appreciative of the more insidious practitioners of the grueling art that is Doom.

Doom can either be this meandering boring creature or it can drive you to the depths while captivating you. The idea is for the slothful song creations to drag you from start to finish through the darkest muck of the self, or in the case of the following two bands, the darkness of death. This is all done while captivating you with the very heavy, slow fuck, style that it is.
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Hooded Menace - Fulfill The Curse (2008)



Hooded Menace is a Doom duo from Finland with two full lengths (the second coming out Spring of this year) and a plethora of splits lined up.

Fulfill The Curse Mixes doom and sludge with death metal themes. The band's debut carries plenty slow and devious momentum. Their doom influences only go on for so long until you are immersed in mid paced D-beat action that is so thick you can drizzle it over pancakes. Their faster parts are direct throwbacks to old school death metal and they are done most exceptionally well. Their balance between slow sinister grooves and wretched death n' roll metal riffage makes for a strong first effort.

Clearly horror fanatics, Hooded Menace deliver howling tracks that give you that locked away in a remote dungeon while awaiting your untimely demise by way of boiling to death feel.

It's going to be interesting to see if their follow up album continues in this way while still keeping things interesting. I believe Hooded Menace will step up and prove to be a powerful force in the Doom world.

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Coffins - Buried Death (2008)



Japan filth death doomsters Coffins are becoming more and more known by the day, and they should be. This band is clearly well versed in the way of classic Doom and Death Metal. Buried Death is their strongest full length, and note I said full length. The band currently has over half a dozen splits and four full lengths including the one mentioned here.

Similar to Hooded Menace but different in that they tend to lean more towards the Death Metal side of things, Coffins is another great tribute to the classic Death Metal era which I find myself appreciating more and more as new bands that enter the Death Metal world are either boring as fuck with their over produced mundane sound and Dan Seagrave knock off album cover art, or think that breakdowns are now a staple for any kind of music and thus compromise themselves.

Experiments Gone Right

Experimental acts can be fun, funny, weird, abstract, and sometimes just plain stupid. Lack of direction doesn’t exactly result in genius despite those who believe the contrary.

Many self proclaimed eclectics will consider simple name calling in the context of experimental music a matter of the listener not being able to understand what is being heard. I’m afraid that’s too easy of an argument. It comes down to the fact that if you give me a recording deal, I can put out a bullshit release too, and someone, somewhere, will like it, despite the fact that such a release was simply the execution of a joke intended to mock.

The following two acts I’m about to review are two of the most popular and for good reason. Like the aforementioned qualities of experimental acts, these two bands have their idiotic moments all the same. However, what separates these two rock acts from their own nonsense is that they have defining moments where their experimental nature is combined with their musical talents to produce high quality song writing. Basically what I’m saying is that when both bands succumb to traditional songwriting, they create some of the most intriguing rock n’ roll out there.
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The Butthole Surfers - Independent Worm Saloon (1993)



Independent Worm Saloon is considered the bands heaviest release which isn't a stretch seeing as how they were never primarily a heavy act to begin with. In addition to the distortion driven guitars, singer Gibby Haynes seems to be in his darkest hour at times. This approach helped create such memorable and disturbing songs like "Dog Inside Your Body" and "Alchohol". In the midst of their heavy rock drugged out insanity the band still finds room to be the comedians they have always been, being sure to never get too serious. When they do show their serious side, the results are fantastic.

This is the band's most accessible album and in a good way because the balance of experimentation and traditional song styles throughout the album remain equally distributed. This variation allows for the common listener to get a taste of the macabre and strange while having more direct songs to keep the release grounded. This characteristic produces a level of intrigue that can lead someone into exploring more music of it's ilk. I guess what I'm saying is that Butthole Surfers is a great gateway drug.
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Ween - White Pepper (2000)



I could have easily chosen 2003's Quebec for this post but again I feel the equal balance of experimental elements and traditional song writing are ideal when it comes to the multifaceted journey that Ween can provide a listener.

My first experience with Ween was when I heard Transdermal Celebration being played over and over in a promo DVD that a previous retail employer had been sent. I knew of Ween for a number of years, seeing their crazy face logo everywhere, but I had never actually listened to them. When I heard Transdermal Celebration, I was shocked to find it was Ween because what I knew about them was that they were a nutty duo that, like the Butthole Surfers, had a great sense of humor and a high output of material. I figured that the single I was being exposed to was merely a joke made by the band, so I set out to listen to their entire studio album catalog. Of course the first 4 releases by the band were off the wall and at times unbearable. Chocolate and Cheese became their most notorious album that saw the band go in every direction at once. Yet, it would be White Pepper that really drew me in.

All things in moderation is something I firmly believe in. Some Ween releases are just a bunch of fucking around with the goofy element very apparent and overwhelming to the point of agitation. Then there's White Pepper, which clearly exemplifies that this is a band of creative musicians that can really play and put together great music, when they feel like it.

Fulfilling Potential

I only have one release to offer to you today. Agoraphobic Nosebleed were known for the longest time as drug obsessed ‘Hypergrind’ humorists who produced some of the most intense grind in a not so serious manner. Far from taking things seriously, the band’s prolific catalog is filled with songs about blasting through an 8 ball and unloading banana clips into the unsuspecting scum of the earth.

Out of a plethora of releases (numbering a little over 20) the band has usually released material just for the sake of doing so, or at least it seems that way. Recording sessions couldn’t have gone on for more than a few days, and to (possibly) exaggerate, a few hours. While the extremes of ANB are a great introduction to the capabilities of speed combined with themes of drug use, nihilism, and violence, their material really just became this constant mess. For true Grind fans that was enough, but for those longing for truly different extremes in heavy music, there was no way to justify actively listening to the band.

As a dedicated fan of Grind, I too would find one release just as typical as the past 15, but this has changed for the 16 year old quartet. They have finally come to be the band I, and other faithful fans have always known they would become.

Enter “Agorapocalypse”

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Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agorapocalypse (2009)



Agorapocalypse is the first full length release by ANB to feature a female added to the multi-voiced assault, it would also be the band's first full length with the full utilization of Toonz's 'Drum Machine From Hell'. This is one of the best drum machines on the market, and the program has allowed producer/guitarist Scott Hull to really do Agoraphobic Nosebleed justice. The program, like other solid drum machine software, allows for each individual piece of the kit to be mixed out providing a sound that finally has the ability to completely fool the ears of the listener into thinking there is actually someone behind the kit. I say this because some drum machine programs give the impression that there is someone manning the kit only until you hear the first cymbal crash, then you know it's some damn robot.

When listening to Agorapocalypse, the stark difference between human and machine is virtually erased, I would say the only way to tell it's still a drum machine is due to the fact that everything is just that tight.

Reading interviews with Hull regarding the song writing process behind Agorapocalypse, it was revealed that the band was ready to really put their best foot forward. They pretty much became tired of the relentless output as the monotony of the split projects became all too common and easy for them to accomplish as little was actually expected.

More than just a better sounding album, it's a better written album entirely. The band finally utilizes levels of extremes. Everything from crushing breakdowns so smoothly inserted into the foray of madness to sludgy rock breaks, fill this album with the devastation one could only expect from an album called Agorapocalypse. Just look at the cover art! The music is a direct representation of the constant Armageddon that this world is experiencing.

I don't speak my mother tongue

I had been listening to Dir En Grey and said I found it admirable that they continue to release albums in their native language without going for the English approach in order to boost marketability in the states which was something they continue to gain despite the apparent language barrier their music presents. A friend of mine who currently resides in Japan explained to me that the Japanese actually prefer when lyrics are sung in English. So I guess Dir En Grey’s adherence to their native tongue is a two fold example of a band’s ability to make good headway into the ears of foreign audiences.

Like Dir En Grey, Rammstein has also consistently stayed 100% native on their albums despite their English sung versions of ‘Hast’ and ‘Engel’ included in some versions of their breakthrough “Sehnsucht” as well as the Spanish sung track “Te Quiero Puta!” heard on 2006’s Rosenrot.

Although I know nothing of either language except the most common of phrases, to hear the language spoken in the form of poetry is something that I find myself caught up in and I can only wonder what sort of topics are being broached. While I could easily seek English translations for each band’s respective songs, I’d rather leave it up to my imagination as to what they could be professing through such passionate verses. (Except Rammstein, who have openly discussed their sexually charged subject matter)

I tend to focus a lot on tone when reviewing particular albums and in this case, the tone of how these unfamiliar languages comes across provides a world of intrigue into the unknown subject matter that would only be revealed to me by Wikipedia.

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Dir En Grey – Withering To Death (2006)

Having released 4 full lengths prior to their US breakthrough “Withering To Death”, Dir En Grey have managed to make some of the most intriguing and versatile heavy rock music I have heard in a long time.

I would have to say that Kyo’s singing brings the dynamics of the songs into full swing. A schizophrenic of sorts, he tends to be all over the map in his approach. There’s nothing like a diverse singer who sees his or her voice as a multi-faceted instrument, one they can use to manipulate the fabric of the music in order to really drive home the emotions that are playing out within the songs.

While each album is its own creature in the musical sense; “Withering To Death” just seemed to be the album that put all the pieces together just the right way. It was the album that saw their metal, pop, experimental, and progressive influences come together in cohesive way where as the following releases “Uroboros” and “Marrow of Bone” tended to stick to one particular angle. The albums are by no means without their strong points but there is a clear direction to those releases compared to the coalescing and unpredictable beast that is “Withering To Death”.

Basically, if there’s one album you were to start with, it would be the one mentioned here. All the others are equally important because they are all strong in their own right. I equally encourage everyone to check out “Kisou” as well.

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Rammstein - Liebe ist für alle da (2009)

Go ahead, do it, I know right now you’re saying aloud (in a deep German accent) “Du, Du Hast” but the fact of the matter is that following 1997’s “Sehnsucht”, Rammstein turned into some of the best mainstream song writers in the business today.

Friends of mine cannot take this band seriously due to the way that Till Lindemann passionately recites his sexually charged poetry. Lindemann’s approach which is subtle at times but always with a strong presence, gives this band the real ability to be so catchy. In a number of interviews with lead guitarist Richard Kruspe, people often ask him about Lindemann’s ability to sing the German language with such grace given the content and nature of the music. It basically becomes the topic of discussion and with good reason. His ability to map out patterns in such a fluent way with such a ‘hard’ language is what keeps this band memorable and gives life to their talented song writing.

I’m not here to profess that every Rammstein release is pure greatness, 2001’s “Mutter” was simply lame and the band was admittedly in turmoil at that time. In between albums the band would get together with a renewed sense of playing and the end product was 2004’s “Reise, Reise”.

Reise, Reise saw the band’s song writing mature greatly by taking their break core past and meshing it with their always apparent pop rock know how (their obvious love for New Wave being ever present as well). They would follow up “Reise, Reise” with “Rosenrot” in 2005 which was equal in quality if not slightly better simply based on the amount of hits you could pull from it.

I am posting last year’s “Liebe ist für alle da” because it is a great continuation of the band’s ever so catchy song writing. Richard Kruspe’s riffs never run dry. The fact they are so simple helps. To say this band is a monumental musical whirlwind would be pushing it, instead they are good at what they do, creating simple German pop hits using heavy elements while Lindemann’s sexually provocative lyrics make me believe that German is truly the language of Love, or just the language of very exploratory sexual fantasia. I would not want to run into that guy in a dark corner of an S & M shop.

Death N Roll Hall Of Fame

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