The Rock Blogger

The Sword. Gods of the Earth. 2008. 3.5 stars.

Texas’ The Sword are back with another furious stoner-rock album, bringing their own brand of Black Sabbath worship the forefront of the genre. The band’s 2006 debut The Age of Winters was one of my favorite releases of that year so naturally I was fairly excited to hear their follow up. The Sword live up to expectations with Gods of the Earth, with some speedy riffs and powerful drumming, but never manage to fully push their sound in a new direction. While the album is incredibly fun and fluid, it ultimately leaves you wanting a little more.

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The Sword’s second full length album The Gods of the Earth came out yesterday and this video is for its first single. I’m hoping to pick the disc up today so I can write a full review soon. In the meantime, check out their post-apocalyptic video. It has a very trippy look to it, with a colorization scheme reminiscent of the sci-fi film A Scanner Darkly. Check it out.

Earth. The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull. 2008. 3.5 stars.

This is music for stoned, post-apocalyptic cowboys, like the Mad Max set, but more relaxed and pining for a peyote journey. The influential and experimental Earth, who revolutionized stoner rock with the minimalist drones of 2, return to the doomed Western landscapes they began exploring with 2005’s Hex. The jams here are slow, heavy and hypnotic, luring you with its steady, slithering bass grooves and catatonic drumming. The mood they establish is introspective and sedative, nudging you into an ancient and primal feelings.

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Japan’s psychedelic masters return to the fray with their newest LP Smile to be released on Southern Lord on April 29th. The label will also release a 7” single for “Statement” which will also feature the B-side “Floorshaker” on February 26. If their last collaboration album with Merzbow was any indication, Smile is going to be a massive, blistering record.

Stay Tuned.

Boris with Merzbow. Rock Dream 2007. 5 stars.

Easily one of the most intense live albums I’ve ever come across, this 2 disc collaboration between psychedelic/drone masters Boris and famed Japanese noise artist Merzbow is a sublime exercise in wailing guitar solos, monstrous feedback, distortion and impossibly raw energy - this rocks you to the core.

The first disc features the mammoth, 35 minute “Feedbacker”, where Boris lays down their heaviest guitar drones as Merzbow plays deliriously with delays and electronic effects, creating an incredibly dense wall of sound that progressively swallows up everything in its path. The following three tracks edge off into shorter bursts of propulsive noise and jangly guitar solos, with neither artist overpowering the other. The timing and pacing between them is impeccable.

The second disc is a more prominent showcase of Boris’ more punk inspired diversions, as the band rips through the most powerful and energetic tracks from their 2005 LP Pink. Just as that album rollicked in reckless abandon, their live counterparts are equally explosive.

For those not familiar with the work of either Boris or Merzbow, this is an excellent place to start. Rock Dream, in all its fuzzed out and psychedelic glory, has raised the watermark for all the rock genres Boris has dabbled in, from punk to drone to the avant garde.

Electric Wizard Witchcult Today. 2007 4.5 stars.

One hefty dose of sludgy stoner rock, England’s pot-addled Electric Wizard has concocted the infectious Witchcult Today, which is sure to stand as a new landmark for the genre. A mind-melting homage to the paranoid grooves and dark thematics of Black Sabbath, Witchcult Today immediately sucks you into shadowy psychedelic realms, alluding to the underground culture of 70’s B-Movies, pulp fiction and the occult.

A surprisingly accessible album, Witchcult Today features aggressive yet restrained vocals that do not sound as over-the top as most metal acts tend to verge toward. Speed here is not of the essence, as it is in Thrash and progressive metal, as Electric Wizard vie for a more relaxed, fuzzed out and hypnotic sound that allows you to space out to its slithering rythms.

A stoned masterpiece, I would even recommend this to those not accustomed to heavy music, as its trippy atmosphere and dynamics will be appealing to anyone who is the right ‘ahem’ state of mind…