YATRA - Blood Of The Night (Album Review)

Release date: January 31st 2020. Label: STB Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Blood Of The Night - Tracklisting

1.Sorcerer

2.Carrion

3.The Howling

4.After The Ravens

5.Blood Will Flow

6.Burning Vision

7.Three Moons

8.Surrender

Members

Dana Helmuth

Maria Geisbert

Sean Lafferty

Review

Blood Of The Night is the new album from Yatra and it’s another bleak round of heavy sounding Doom/Sludge Metal groove. This album is a more aggressive sound compared to their previous release. As the mood is quite downbeat from start to finish with Yatra in no mood to play any up-tempo beats or sounds at all on this album. The album has a well-rounded gloomy atmosphere that sees the band play to their strengths with delicious twisted results.

The vocals whilst good throughout the album don’t really change direction very much at all and keeps in line with the seedy and aggressive mood the band capture superbly well.

The music is a genuine highlight with Yatra playing a wide range of Doom/Sludge Metal riffs with certain Stoner Metal and Classic Hard Rock sounds allowing Yatra to offer a more expansive sound. The tone maybe bleak but Yatra know how to have fun with their music along way and that translate easily for the listener to become part of the action.

The opening few songs – Sorcerer, Carrion and The Howling – show you that Yatra are striving to play and aim for that classic Doom/Sludge Metal style of music and succeeding with a deeply rich and satisfying groove that feels influenced by Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus in places but with vocals are firmly rooted in the more Extreme side of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal.

Yatra offer a sinister Psychedelic twist on their heavy bleak sounds on this album and it’s good to hear the band offer elements of Progressive Rock/Metal along the way on songs such as: After The Ravens, Three Moons and Surrender. Which offer some of the heaviest and gloomiest parts of the album.

It may take a few listens to fully get on board with but Yatra have more than enough tricks up their sleeve to entice you into their way of thinking. Add intelligent and creepy lyrics to the mix and Blood Of The Night has a lot to offer even the most jaded of Doom/Sludge Metal fan.

The best parts about the album is most definitely the music that Yatra have created here and the top-notch production that the album offers. Everything sounds epic and with a deep precise sound that allows the music to fully breathe naturally.

Blood Of The Night is an excellent album that ultimately demands your undivided attention.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Steve at STB Records for the promo. Blood Of The Night will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via STB Records from Jan 31^st 2020.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Clouds Taste Satanic - Evil Eye (Album Review)

Release date: April 30^th 2019. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Evil Eye – Tracklisting

1.Evil Eye 19:53

2.Pagan Worship 20:48

Members

Steve Scavuzzo, Sean Bay, Greg Acampora, Brian Bauhs

Review

Evil Eye is the 5^th album from famed Doom Metal Instrumentalists – Clouds Taste Satanic- This time the band return with a heavier and more psychedelic offering compared to their earlier releases. The band offer two songs both running for about 20 minutes each. You can expect to hear the great heavy doomed out sounds that Clouds Taste Satanic are known for. However, expect a more rigid and progressive approach to their music with the band taking their time bring the heavy thunderous riffs to the party.

First song – Evil Eye – has a stripped back approach with the mood being very direct though this allows the band to slowly bring in many different layers of Psychedelic Doom Metal twinned with elements of Hard Rock, Classic Rock and Stoner Metal for a gloomy and out of body experience. This is the type of song that demands your full undivided attention. The slow-paced parts of the song are quite gloomy and sees the band play a more nuanced style of music.

Second song – Pagan Worship – lives up to it’s DOOM based title with the band creating some of their heaviest DOOM METAL riffs on this song. The song is deliriously fast-paced and angry throughout. Perhaps the most pissed off I’ve heard Clouds Taste Satanic been yet and that’s saying something to describe these guys. The down-tempo and gloomy riffs have a slightly depressing and darkened edge to them but that’s what makes this album so good. Clouds Taste Satanic are not afraid to venture into the darkest depths of DOOM METAL that you don’t hear from similar Instrumental Doom Metal bands.

Evil Eye is one of the best albums that Cloud Tastes Satanic have released to date. You would think after 5 albums the band would start to lose their hunger for creating new sounds. NOPE. Evil Eye feels like Clouds Taste Satanic are only getting started and the Doom/Stoner Metal audience is theirs for the taking.

The production is superb and allows Cloud Tastes Satanic music to be frighteningly too real at times. Overall, Clouds Taste Satanic have created a FUCKING MONSTER with this album.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Leanne at Mettle Media PR and Clouds Taste Satanic for the promo. Evil Eye is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl now.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Spirit Division - Forgotten Planet (Album Review)

Release date: August 31st 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Forgotten Planet – Tracklisting

1.Forgotten Planet
2.Nothing To Be Missed
3.River Rising
4.The Light That Shines (When All Must Die)
5.Seeking The Crow Witch
6.Behemoth
7.Half-Hearted
8.Solitude
9.King Of Scars

Members

Chris Latta: Bass/Vocals
Jace Epple: Drums
Andy Bowerman: Guitars/Vocals

Review

Progression is the key for Doom Metallers - Spirit Division - who return after a two year absence with their epic new album - Forgotten Planet. Spirit Division have decided to give their music an almost trippy makeover as the album is way more psychedelic compared to previous albums. The album is full of trippy moments that leave you wondering what has happened to the Spirit Division from previous albums.

I'm not complaining as I feel Spirit Division have not only progressed as musicians but also songwriters as well. The lyrical content is perhaps the band's most mature offering to date. Spirit Division still play their familiar vintage Doom Metal sounds but the music is just way more out there.

Opening track - Forgotten Planet - is an instrumental psychedelic doom and spaced out offering with the band letting the listener getting used to their new sound.

Second song - Nothing To Be Missed - offers fans the best of both worlds. With Spirit Division playing their classic old-school Doom/Stoner Metal sound but with the focus on the more psychedelic element they've added to this album. Spirit Division is really hard to categorize on this album as they start to add different strands of Classic Heavy Metal sounds. The vocals are top-notch from both Chris and Andy.

The next few tracks: River Rising, The Light That Shines (When All Must Die) and Seeking The Crow Witch, offer perhaps some of the best moments on the album. With the music and vocals being a cut above the rest. The switching from different musical genres will leave you wanting more. The swirling psychedelic and spaced out moments immersed with the gloomy atmosphere shouldn't really work but Spirit Division show real vision and talent in keep everything flowing naturally.

The production on Forgotten Planet is quite adventurous in places. As the overall feel of the album can be quite vintage in parts and super modern in other parts of the album. The vocals on the album have a slightly creepy feel and that keeps with the tone of the entire album.

The second half of the album sees the band more settled with their new musical surroundings with songs such as Behemoth, Solitude and King Of Scars being the heaviest and meanest held on the entire album. Forgotten Planet is a thrilling and highly original sounding album that will have long-time fans extremely happy and even help gain a wider recognition.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Leanne at Mettle Media PR for the promo. Forgotten Planet will be available to buy on CD/DD via from August 31st 2018.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp

Headless Kross - Projections I (Album Review)

Release date: November 18th 2016. Label: At War With False Noise. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Projections I – Tracklisting

1....Does Not Equal Time 08:14

2.Practical Mental Effects 08:00

3.Church Of The Fifth Season 10:17

4.The Map Is Not The Territory 08:27

Band Members

Derek - Bass & voice,

Jonny - Drums,

Tommy - Guitar.

Review:

This is a band that works in a virtual doom quarry, mining a distortion that expands and contracts in sludge as thick as mud. This album is very well done and truly deserving of your heavyweight collection. There are only four songs, but they are vivid as divine law.

The album starter 'Does Not Equal Time' churns like spoiled buttermilk and evolves with string work that jumps all over the fret board like a semi truck on a neglected desert road. The song respects itself and the psychedelic speed limits are not excessive.

'Practical Mental Effects' is heavy fuzz operating at low speed with agonizing screams in an echo drain pit. The guitar, bass and drums are all performing on a smelted stage.

'Church Of The Fifth Season' is a sonic story chronicling the contorted sounds of a suspicious mind on a paranoid, slow motion, helicopter guitar ride, powered by mistrustful voices soon to be landing on a monster riff island where the creatures scream for their next meal from the abstract sky. It is a bubbling blob of deep doomed resonance with hallucinogenic ebbs in the tide.

'The Map Is Not The Territory' is masterful. The bass starts off something unusual and the guitar twangs before being thrust into the heaving storm, which is causing the battering down of the drum kit, all of this being motorized through the resurgence of a lost riff circa the 1970's. The insane captain yells commands from atop the crow’s nest of this death ship, which is travelling upon crushing waves of doom over elongated stoner rock.

I understand part II is on the horizon...so keep this band on your sonar.

Words by Nick Palmisano

Thanks to Lisa at Hold Tight PR for the promo. Projections I is available to buy now.

Links:

Facebook | BandCamp