FIREBREATHER - Under A Blood Moon (Album Review)

Release date: September 27th 2019. Label: RidingEasy Records Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Under A Blood Moon – Tracklisting

1.Dancing Flames

2.Our Souls, They Burn

3.Closed Gate

4.Firebreather

5.We Bleed

6.The Siren

Members

Mattias Nööjd

Kyle Hagman

Axel Wittbeck

Review

Firebreather new album – Under A Blood Moon – sees the band signing to RidingEasy Records and returning with a more expansive and heavier sound. Perhaps closely influenced by Black Sabbath, High On Fire and Monolord, this album still sees the band forge their own way into the realm of Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal. This album is darker, heavier and more groove based than their excellent debut album.

This album contains 6 songs running around 50 minutes of intense riffage. The music and vocals impress from the start with Firebreather reaching a new level of maturity with the progressive sounds leading the way.

Opening song – Dancing Flames – is one of the standout songs on the album with the Psychedelic Grooves leading into High On Fire style pummelling guitar riffs and frantic drumming to match. The vocals are excellent with the right amount of aggression from the start. It’s also an added bonus that you can easily understand what the vocals are saying even when the harsh growls appear.

Second song – Our Souls They Burn – is perhaps the most Doom based son g contained on the album with a more gloomier outlook leading the way. This is another epic song for the band to tease your musical taste buds with. The atmosphere is quite intense with Firebreather unleashing another round of HELL with fresh sounding music that will leave you wanting more. 

The progression of different genres and melodies is the perfect answer to show you how far Firebreather have progressed since their celebrated debut album. As the band have a more threatening sound with the Psychedelic based atmosphere being one of the standout moments of the entire album.

The songs on this album vary in length from 7 mins to 10 mins Firebreather need that time to build a complete picture of modern sounding Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal.

Under A Blood Moon is an album that has a beginning, a middle and end where the band impress even further on songs such as Closed Gate, Firebreather and The Siren. Some people may complain that the album doesn’t take enough creative risks. However, this is an album that is built on RIFFS and in Firebreather’s case – BUSINESS IS BOOMING!!!

Under A Blood Moon has all the right ingredients to for a sure-fire best-seller and offers the listener a thrilling style of Progressive Sludge/Stoner Metal that will rank as one of the best albums of the year.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Dave at US/THEM PR for the promo. Under A Blood Moon will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records from Sept 27^th 2019.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Problem With Dragons - Ascendant (Album Review)

Release date: August 23rd 2019. Label: Self Released. Format: DD/Vinyl

Ascendant – Tracklisting

1.The Omicron 02:59

2.Moon Ritual 05:15

3.The Reptilian Eye 04:46

4.Too Terrified 01:31

5.Comply or Ignore 05:05

6.The Ascendant 05:42

7.Implant 03:56

8.Here's Condemnation 01:59

9.Apocalypse of Baruch 04:28

10.Faults De Massif 03:47

Members

Whitman, Price, and Haddad

Review

Problem With Dragons unexpectedly returned with their new album – Ascendant. It was a complete surprise for myself as I loved their 2015 debut album Starquake. I’ve heard rumours and rumblings over the years that a new album was being prepared but sadly had given up hope until they dropped this album without any PR or fanfare.

Ascendant sees Problem With Dragons carry on playing their modern sounding Sludge/Stoner Metal grooves with a twinge of Distorted vibes running throughout the album. The band carry on the “lost” style of Sludge/Stoner Metal that Baroness and Mastodon played back in the day before moving onto a more commercial style of sound.

Opening song – The Omicron – feels like a hidden message being played under a ton of heavy Sludge/Stoner riffage that gives you the perfect glimpse on what to expect on the album. The overall sound of this song and album is quite raw but allows Problem With Dragons to play their own style of music with elements of Punk vibes creeping through from time to time.

Second Song – Moon Ritual – has a more focused and jagged sound with the band focusing more on melody and telling an intruiging story with this song. The song is quite addictive and has a dark underbelly to it with some epic and flashy as hell guitar solos that can be quite demanding to listen to at times. The vocals are insanely good and show a wealth of creativity when the more “poppier” sounding vocals appear. It shouldn’t really work but the band deserve credit for this.

Third song – The Reptilian Eye – has a true Stoner Metal sound with flashes of Mastodon style Proggy guitars and vocals on certain parts of the song. Add a more “fantasy” feel to the lyrics with some hard hitting vibes and this allows the song to be one of the standout songs held on the album.

The opening 3 songs perfectly exemplify how the rest of the album plays out with the following songs – Comply Or Ignore, The Ascendant, Implant and Apocalypse Of Baruch being some of the most exciting and heaviest riffs on the album.

Ascendant is a deeply engaging and adventurous album with a richly creative narrative that you wouldn’t expect to hear on an album such as this. I’m hoping that the band will receive as much positive recognition they possibly can with this album. As it’s a brilliantly entertaining and must have album.

Words by Steve Howe

Ascendant is available to buy on DD now. Vinyl will be coming later this year directly from the band.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

zhOra - Ethos, Pathos, Logos (Album Review)

Release date: October 27th 2017. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Ethos, Pathos, Logos – Tracklisting

1.The Stone

2.Riverchrist

3.Sin Eater

4.The Breach

5.Jettatura

6.Infernal Liturgy 02:42

7.Turmoil

8.Rubic(On) The Styx

9.Earth'd

10.Server, Seer, Soothsayer

11.Tabula Rasa

Members

Colin Bolger / Pancho O Meara / Tom Woodlock / Alan Hanlon

Review

zhOra's new album - Ethos, Pathos, Logos - is a very hard album to describe. Firmly rooted within the Progressive Sludge Metal world. The band plays many different styles of Rock/Metal on this album.

Opening track - The Stone - opens with a cool psychedelic sound before zhOra explode into a more experimental progressive sludge sound. It has quite a jazz like feel with the vocals flirting between clean styles and harsher based growls. The song maybe too jarring and experimental for the casual listener and is perhaps to be enjoyed by the more experienced and dedicated sludge metal fan.

Second track - Riverchrist - carries on the experimental sound but with a heavier sludge and almost death metal style approach. Gojira and Mastodon progressive style sounds don't always fully work but zhOra still manage to create some spectacular messed up sounds of their own. The atmosphere of the album becomes doomier with psychedelic noises making a welcome appearance.

The other songs on the album follow the same destructive path with zhOra showing elements of traditional based Rock/Metal melodies to lighten up the mood. Though only for a brief moment between the heavy and experimental carnage. Songs such as Sin Eater, The Breach, Infernal Liturgy, Turmoil and the two superb final songs - Server, Seer, Soothsayer and Tabula Rosa perhaps offer the most craziest and standout moments on the album.

With zhOra still not settling for a conventional sound. The instrumental work is without doubt the strongest aspect of the entire album. With the band offering a musical masterclass for anyone brave enough to listen. The music is heavy and dynamic with experimentation being the main focus here. The band explore as many different genres they can lay their hands on and you have to give them credit for trying to include moments of Psychedelic/Spaced Out Rock within the confines of their progressively heavy sludge based madness. The album doesn't make sense when you first listen to it. As the album takes the listener down a very complex musical path.

The fantastic lyrics have a Mastodon feel to them. Slightly influenced by Crack The Skye at times. The production is first rate with the album being loud and violent from the start. Ethos, Pathos, Logos is the sort of album that Mastodon should be making instead of their more commercially friendly sludge rock sound. zhOra have released an album that is not your usual progressive sludge sounding album.

The band takes many risks on this album and to be fair whilst the majority of these risks Ethos, Pathos, Logos pay off huge dividends for the band. The only issues with the album I have for is when zhOra opt for a quieter style of music. The flow of the album feels forced at times. Though zhOra never stay fully quiet for long and soon return to playing their more addictive and heavier experimental sludge based riffs.

Overall, zhOra have created a truly exciting and weirdly addictive progressive sounding album that will leave you wanting more.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Lisa at Hold Tight PR for the promo. Ethos, Pathos, Logos will be available to buy on CD/DD from October 27^th 2017.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Varego - Epoch (Album Review)

Release date: October 10th 2016. Label: Argonauta Records. Format: CD/DD

Epoch – Tracklisting

1.Alpha Tauri 07:01

2.Phantasma 05:09

3.Flying King 04:44

4.The Cosmic Dome 06:16

5.Swarms 06:23

6.Dominion 06:53

Band Members:

Voice/Bass: Davide Marcenaro

Guitar: Alberto Pozzo

Guitar: Gerolamo Lucisano

Drums: Simon Lepore

Review:

Varego return with their 2^nd album – Epoch. A blend of progressive sludge rhythms and tribal post-metal sounds sees Varego add more scope to their music. Drawing from their sludge/post-metal contemporaries, Varego show a dramatic flair to their music with post-rock sounds starting the album off with the first track – Alpha Tauri for the first few moments before Davide's start to arrive. The atmosphere becomes quite frantic at times with the dual guitar work from Alberto and Gerolamo.

Epoch contains some stunning ideas that allows Varego to create addictive progressive sludge riffs. Shades of early-era Mastodon and Baroness can be detected throughout the album but Varego excel in creating their own musical identity. The album has a certain cinematic edge to it especially on songs such as Phantasma, The Cosmic Dome and Swarms.

With this being a sludge metal album, Epoch has a slight depressing doom and gloom feel to it. It does allow Varego to inject heavy moments of psychedelia into the mix. The lyrics are another highlight with the band writing lyrics with actual meaning to the music being played around you. The album sounds excellent which isn't surprising since it was mixed and mastered by the legendary Billy Anderson.

One of the albums main strengths is how Varego experiment with their sound on every song. Each of the songs sound very different to each other. With more of our favourite Sludge/Post-Metal bands starting to embrace the more aspects of commercial rock/metal music, it's good to hear a band such as Varego creating heavy moments of Post-Metal/Sludge Metal that their more famous contemporaries used to make back in the day.

If you're a fan of the classic sludge/post-metal style of music then Varego have a few surprises waiting for you on the final two tracks of Swarms and Dominion. Dominion is perhaps the standout track on the album as Varego unleash the albums heaviest and perhaps most catchiest riffs.

Epoch is an album more people should be checking out as it would be a shame this album not getting the full recognition that it deserves.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Barbara at NeeCee Agency for the promo. Epoch is available to buy now on CD/DD from Argonauta Records.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp