Pelican @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 09/04/2012

I can honestly say that Pelican have provided me with some incredible musical mementos, from their heavier early days through to their more recent melodic period, which on occasion has journeyed with me on an almost personal level, being the commuting man I am. Still, I'm not a cannot of any sort. I was oblivious to the fact they last toured over here with Torche in 2008 and only found out they stopped off in Manchester thanks to a flyer I spotted on my way home from a Meshuggah concert on the very same day.

Visions: Gurt - Dudes With Beards With Cats

In what has to be one of most perplexing yet original sludge metal videos yet, London sludge metal crew Gurt have come up with an appropriate DIY video for their new track 'Dudes with Beards with Cats', taken from the soon to be released split 7" with fellow UK heavies Dopefight (available here). Sandwiched between a slight unnerving sequence of meowing cats as the cameraperson shuffles into and out of the house is a sequence of mainly still images of cats, some content, some happy, some pretty miffed, the occasional unreal cat, and the occasional scowler/roarer, and some with dudes and dudettes, some with, some without beards. It's a boss track from the Gurt lads and hopefully the sign of more quality stuff from them.

On a side note, hasn't UK stoner/sludge/doom had a cracking 2012 so far? Let's hope it stays that way!

Peter Clegg

Sloth Herder - Sluggard EP

Sloth Herder
Sluggard EP

The famous connection Sloth Herder have to modern day heavy music is that Jucifer's Edgar Livengood counts one of Sloth Herder as a cousin. The similarity between them ends there. Sloth Herder's debut displays four tracks of knee deep in the mud grindcore. All tracks hit around the two minute mark, so they're allowed time to breathe before violently fuzzing out. The low quality production gives it a blackened edge but it stays entrenched in grind territory, dipping a toe in sludgier waters on occasion.

I don't know if there's enough yet to set Sloth Herder apart of the zillions of grindcore bands stepping up for a crack, but 'Sluggard' is a reasonable first release. It's available for free via the band's Bandcamp page, so there ain't no reason for you not to give them a fair crack. Stream or download it after the jump:

Peter Clegg

Every Time I Die - Ex Lives

Every Time I Die

Ex Lives

Epitaph

By now, the law of averages says that Every Time I Die ought to have a bad album by now. With each album comes a further upward swing in a seemingly endless trajectory skywards, and the amount of awesomeness their previous releases have brought coupled with their fans rabid enthusiasm and indeed, expectation, you could argue there might be one or two expecting ETID to hit a snag somewhere. Yet within moments of Keith Buckley yelling 'I want to be dead with my friends!' in the opening to 'Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space', its business as usual, setting the tone for 'Ex Lives' to become the best album of ETID's career to date.

I could easily leave it there having pretty much summed up that you need this album right now. But that wouldn't do the album's many highlights any justice. Keith Buckley's trademark wit is still rife: 'I refuse to be the only man/put to rest in a mass grave' ('Underwater'…) is one such delight from many and his voice lends itself to many other the album's catchy moments, of which I'm sure you'll be able to pick out.

Every Time I Die - Revival Mode (official video)

'Ex Lives' displays a huge range of ETID's influences old and new merging themselves to blistering effect. 'Holy Book of Dilemma' ups the speed and intensity, one of the heaviest songs on the record. The rockabilly beginnings to 'Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow' offer a brief respite but by and large this is perhaps the heaviest ETID record yet – Keith Buckley's howl at times conjures pure hell, evidenced by a blistering roar of 'I have declared a war' on 'Drag King'. For all its intensity, at times 'Ex Lives' does change the pace, and while fairly melodic in contrast to the majority of the record, the darkness of 'Revival Mode', with its catchy refrain of 'Thanks Lord/but I don't need any more/poor advice', is one of the record's stand-out tracks, while 'Indian Giver' even sees the band steering into Melvins territory with a hypnotic psych-tinged sludge riff.

It's still the same Every Time I Die we know and love six albums in, fourteen years down the line. Arguably their defining album, they're still loaded with swagger and packed with more answers than any questions that could be asked of them at this stage of their career, whilst making one unholy din. 'Ex Lives' is, to repeat, ETID's most accomplished album to date, still managing to stay one step ahead of everyone else when it comes to merging heavy-ass grooves and punk rock intensity with a bloody good time.

Peter Clegg

Buy 'Ex Lives' here

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Chimp Spanner - All Roads Lead Here EP

Chimp Spanner

All Roads Lead Here EP

Basick

You may remember when I reviewed Dutch tech-metallers Textures' new album 'Dualism' a while back, I refused to use a certain 'word' aimed to encapsulate their sound. This stance remains today. That doesn't mean I won't stop covering such bands, as evidenced by this particular review of the latest EP from Chimp Spanner, the project created entirely by guitarist Paul Ortiz. Ortiz does shy away from that particular label and prefers to describe Chimp Spanner as 'ambient/progressive metal'. 'All Roads Lead Here' is Chimp Spanner's second release for Basick Records, following 2010's 'At The Dream's Edge'.

Woods of Ypres - Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

Woods of Ypres

Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light

Earache

Whatever talk of this album there may be in future, the only certainty is that it will be forever overshadowed by the death of Woods of Ypres' primary creative force, David Gold, who died prior to the album's release when he was hit by a car whilst walking down Highway 400 in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, near the end of 2011. Their deal with Earache should have been the beginning of a new chapter in the Woods of Ypres' story. Now, it's almost certainly the epilogue, brought to a tragic, abrupt and premature end. Woods of Ypres were certainly lauded in the underground for their effective blackened doom metal, but that reputation and recent events alone shouldn't have any bearing on whether the fifth Woods of Ypres album, 'Grey Skies & Electric Light', produces the results that Digby Pearson foresaw upon signing the band to Earache.

Pelican tour begins this week!

Yes yes y'all, Pelican are hitting the UK's shores this week! We've been mega excited for this tour since it was announced way back in November last year. They're soon to officially release their new EP 'Ataraxia/Taraxis' through Southern Lord on Monday April 9^th, a date which sees their gig in Leeds on the 9^th as a record release show!

Supports for the tour are mostly locally based, with the exception of 'doom-folk' songstress Chelsea Wolfe who will be heading over from Los Angeles for two shows with the Chicago instrumentalists.

Saturday 7^th – The Garage, London (w/ The Skinny Machines + Chelsea Wolfe)

Sunday 8^th – O2 Academy 3, Birmingham (w/ Chelsea Wolfe + Bleaklow)

Monday 9^th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (w/ Blacklisters + Bleaklow)

Tuesday 10^th – Stereo, Glasgow (w/ The Little Mill of Happiness)

Wednesday 11^th – The Ruby Lounge, Manchester (w/ Blacklisters + Bleaklow)

Thursday 12^th – The Haunt, Brighton (w/ Blackstorm + Sea Bastard)

Friday 13^th – The Cooler, Bristol (w/ The Death of Her Money + Black Elephant)

Peter Clegg

Visions: Corrosion of Conformity - Psychic Vampire

The new Corrosion of Conformity video is like watching paint dry.

Just kidding. Or maybe not.

It's just a performance video but I'm digging the backdrop effects even if they don't contribute greatly to a video than doesn't greatly add to what is a cracking song from a cracking album. Scion A/V's last couple of videos haven't been that entertaining to previously - the Weedeater one for 'Mancoon/Turkey Warlock' was entertaining as hell. I just wish they could all live up to that standard.

Still, if you want anyone to do a performance vid, there ain't many who do it better than CoC.

Peter Clegg

Oblivionized - Nullify the Cycle

Oblivionized

Nullify the Cycle EP

Grindcore Karaoke

Guildford mentalists Oblivionized have been skewing metalheads' faces a new one for the last few years with their brand of molten brutal technical deathgrind, and following some impressive live shows of late, they're back with a new EP entitled 'Nullify the Cycle'. Oblivionized's initial output showed promise, but 'Nullify the Cycle' is but a taste of not only what they are capable of, but how far they can branch out too.

The Campaign to Stop the Kingsgate Shopping Centre Expansion: The threat it poses to Huddersfield's music scene and a whole town

To the wider rock/metal community, this next post concerning the plight of a beloved local rock bar/gig venue (pictured above) isn't going to be of too much major concern to you. And indeed, this particular venue only makes up a part of the wider picture which is to be affected.