The Stoner Metal Thread
Sleep - "Sleep's Holy Mountain" (1992)
Possibly my favourite release from this San Jose stoner doom outfit. It's essentially a high quality Black Sabbath clone with immense riffage & very cool Geezer Butler style bass playing. It was only ever intended to be a demo tape so the production is a noticeably inconsistent & the clean vocals are a bit flat but it's still a very strong release in its own right. For fans of Black Sabbath, Electric Wizerd & "The Ethereal Mirror"-era Cathedral.
4/5
Boris - "あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)" (2003)
Boris is such a talented, ambitious & unique band & "Akuma no Uta" showcases this in no uncertain terms. It sees the trio combining stoner rock, stoner metal, drone metal, noise rock & psychedelic rock into one extremely varied release that not only manages to perfectly replicate the warm, organic atmosphere of late 60's/early 70's rock music but is also very successful at everything it touches. In truth, I'd suggest that this is more of a stoner rock record than a metal one & it should please fans of Kyuss, Monster Magnet & early Queens Of The Stone Age.
4/5
This is the re-release which has a different & greatly extended take of the opening track. I'd strongly urge you to go with this one over the original as this new version of drone metal monster "Introduction" is not only the album highlight but is also one of the best examples of the subgenre you'll ever hear. I'll go with an extra half mark for this one too.
4.5/5
2020 has been a pretty good year for stoner metal releases, despite everything.
My top 10 stoner metal albums so far this year:
#1 Rosy Finch - Scarlet
#2 Blacklab - Abyss
#3 Dopelord - Sign of the Devil
#4 Planet of the Dead - Fear of a Dead Planet
#5 Psyclops - Amalgam
#6 Elephant Tree - Habits
#7 Acid Mammoth - Under Acid Hoof
#8 Kurse - Prophecies, Episode I : The Awakening EP
#9 Forming the Void - Reverie
#10 Tortuga - Deities
Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Stoner Metal on the whole, one or two releases each year slide into my listening rotation so I should definitely check out some of your top 10 here Sonny. Last year it was Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard who ended up pretty highly rated on the year-end list, and this year it has been the slightly weaker Acid Mammoth, so that's the only one I can vouch for so far. Dopelord and Elephant Tree were good but didn't really leave any lasting impression, so I'm interested to see what the rest of these are about.
One of the great stoner metal albums is 25 years old today - Cathedral's Carnival Bizarre, along with it's brilliant single Hopkins (The Witchfinder General):
Down - "NOLA" (1995)
The debut studio album from New Orleans-based stoner metal supergroup Down is a very solid & consistent piece work that draws heavily on Black Sabbath for influence ("Vol 4" in particular), only with a distinctly Southern twang reminiscent of southern rock artists like Lynard Skynard. The band features members of Pantera, Crowbar, Corrosion Of Conformity & Eyehategod & you can definitely hear bits of all of these artists however the contributions of Pantera front man Phil Anselmo & Corrosion Of Conformity guitarist Pepper Keenan are the most prominent & important elements. It's a groovy riff-fest that may not fall inside my comfort zone but makes up for it in swagger & attitude. I particularly like the more chilled moments which are clearly tributes to Black Sabbath's more subdued moments. For fans of Corrosion Of Conformity, Alabama Thunderpussy & Black Label Society.
4/5
I like this record a lot. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say I Iike it better than the material of the group members’ other bands. I think you can generally split Stoner Metal into two sub-categories: the first would include the super-heavy, almost Doom bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard, and the second would be more “rock” oriented stuff like Down or Orange Goblin (I’d also throw Kyuss in there). The more I delve into the latter category, the more I think Down nailed it better than anybody else on this LP, the music’s just more interesting and Phil’s vox take it to another level. 4/5
For this weekend's weekly top ten list I thought I'd tackle the stoner metal genre:
01. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)
02. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)
03. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)
04. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)
05. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)
06. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)
07. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)
08. Elder - "Spires Burn / Release" E.P. (2012)
09. Down – “NOLA” (1995)
10. Sleep – “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” (1992)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/135
Let's see what ya got guys!
OK then:
1. Ogre - Plague of the Planet (2008)
2. Electric Wizard - Supercoven EP (1998)
3. Witches of God - Into the Heart of Darkness (2019)
4. Cathedral - The VIIth Coming (2002)
5. Electric Wizard - Dopethrone (2000)
6. Goya - Obelisk (2015)
7. Boris - Akuma no Uta (2003)
8. Witches of God - They Came to Kill (2016)
9. Electric Wizard - We Live (2004)
10. Year of the Cobra - ...in the Shadows Below (2016)
I've tried to only include albums that are more stoner than doom, as the two are often inextricably linked.
Elder - "Spires Burn / Release" E.P. (2012)
So my Top Ten Stoner Metal Releases of All Time list has only been live for four days & I've already made a change to it. This 22 minute two track E.P. from Massachusetts stoner metal outfit Elder has really impressed me. In truth it kinda sits halfway between stoner metal & stoner rock in my opinion with hints of a grungy Smashing Pumpkins/Soundgarden thing going on at times too. The bass guitar sound is absolutely enormous & the instrumentation is really interesting with the touches of psychedelia being of particular interest to me. Elder possibly just need a world class vocalist to bump this band up into the top tier as Nicholas DiSalvo is simply serviceable which isn't all that unusual for a stoner metal act. Overall though, this a very consistent & extremely solid example of the genre which would be unlikely to leave you disappointed if that sounds like your bag. The fact that it's bumped Sleep's "Dopesmoker" out of my top ten should be reason enough to check it out.
For fans of Samsara Blues Experiment, Black Pyramid & early Weedpecker.
4/5
Updated my list to include Boris' "Pink' album at the top. It's debatable as to whether it's a genuine Stoner Metal release or not however Stoner Metal is its only tag on Metal Academy so why the fuck not. Anyway... Sleep have now been completely dumped from my list which is interesting given their legendary status in the scene.
01. Boris - "Pink" (2005)
02. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)
03. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)
04. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)
05. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)
06. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)
07. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)
08. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)
09. Elder - "Spires Burn / Release" E.P. (2012)
10. Down – “NOLA” (1995)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/135
My updated Top Ten Stoner Metal Releases Of All Time list (featuring a couple of newly qualified inclusions & removing one that no longer qualifies):
01. Electric Wizard – “We Live” (2004)
02. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)
03. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)
04. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)
05. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)
06. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)
07. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)
08. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)
09. Elder – “Spires Burn/Release” E.P. (2012)
10. Electric Wizard - "Witchcult Today" (2007)
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "Infest The Rats' Nest" (2019)
I remember being very surprised when I first discovered that Melbourne psychedelic rock legends King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard had somehow made it onto the radars of extreme metal fans all around the world. I’d never really committed to investigating them for myself but I'd always intended to & it was very hard to ignore the impact they’d made on my local Aussie rock scene in a relatively short period of time. Boy, had they made every effort to cash in on their fame too. I mean any band that manages to release a full fourteen full-length albums in just seven years in the modern day is running well against the curve these days, aren’t they? And that’s just what the Gizzard had managed to achieve going into this record which would see them breaking the two records per year barrier. They’d been very much the local buzz band for a good five years by this point with critics & fans alike gushing over their druggy, retro vibe ever since 2014’s “I’m In Your Mind Fuzz” album but I have to admit that I’d never heard them referred to as being a metal band before so I was intrigued by 2019’s “Infest The Rats’ Nest” & wasted little time in giving it the once over.
Now let’s put it out there straight off the bat that the general tendency to tag “Infest The Rats’ nest” as a thrash metal record isn’t exactly accurate. Sure, there are a fair few fast tracks that definitely include more than the odd thrash riff but this simply doesn’t feel like a thrash record in any way, shape or form thanks to the fuzzy, 1970’s style production job. It’s not slicing & abrasive like thrash should be & doesn’t sound half as metal as a “Bonded By Blood” or a “Pleasure To Kill” which is why my inclusion of the opening track “Planet B” on a monthly playlist for The Pit never quite seemed to sit too well with me. Instead we get a record that feels much more like a stoner metal release, kinda like the thrashier High On Fire material in many ways. There is one monster stoner doom epic included here that reminds me a lot of bluesy early Black Sabbath meets stoner monsters Sleep too & it may well be my favourite track on the album. The more up-tempo numbers like “Organ Farmer” leave me with more of a Ministry vibe in that the thrashy riffs are pretty simple & rhythmic but are invariably effective.
The use of short & highly psychedelic guitar solos is most welcome & always maintains the link to the Gizzard’s retro roots too. I love the way that front man Stu Mackenzie never allows them to overstay their welcome & this conscious restraint definitely helps to accentuate the song-writing which is a real strength for the band. Stu’s voice is as powerful as it is gruff & the tight doubling of his voice in the production phase was nothing short of a master stroke. One criticism I do have though is that “Infest the Rats’ Nest” is a very top heavy record with the opening four tracks being the clear highlights of the nine track set, despite there being no signs of anything subpar included. I can’t help but think that it might have been a better option to finish with the epic doom of “Superbug” in order to crush the listener into a pulp on the way out & leave a greater impression but I guess it wasn’t to be.
Ultimately it’s pretty hard to be critical of an album like “Infest the Rats’ Nest” that has so much soul for a release that’s widely (& incorrectly) touted as extreme metal. The contrast of 70’s warmth with the incisive urgency of the 80’s is unusual & at the very least interesting. I can’t say that I was ever completely sold on the concept though. Perhaps my thrash metal roots are just a little too stuck in their ways & for that reason I teetered on the edge between a respectable 3.5/5 score & a very solid 4/5 for some time before allowing myself to commit to the more impressive option, a call that was largely contributed to by my admiration for the sheer class that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard ooze of from every pore on this release. I don't think I'll be alone in going that direction though & I'm not surprised that metalheads from around the globe have found "Infest the Rats' Nest" to be such an addictive record given just how accessible it is for heavy music fans from such different backgrounds & scenes.
For fans of High On Fire, Sleep & Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats.
4/5
Here' my updated Top Ten Stoner Metal Releases of All Time list after Acid King left my jaw on the ground & forced me to drop Electric Wizard's "Witchcult Today":
01. Electric Wizard – “We Live” (2004)
02. Acid King - "Free..." E.P. (2014)
03. High On Fire – “De vermis mysteriis” (2012)
04. Electric Wizard – “Let Us Prey” (2002)
05. Adrift For Days – “The Lunar Maria” (2010)
06. Electric Wizard – “Supercoven” E.P. (1998)
07. Electric Wizard – “Dopethrone” (2000)
08. Boris – “あくまのうた (Akuma no uta)” (2003)
09. Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics…” (1997)
10. Elder – “Spires Burn/Release” E.P. (2012)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/135
Boris - Heavy Rocks (2022)
Another Boris album, another slab of noise-drenched, riotous stoner metal. The Japanese crew just sound like they were having so much fun when they recorded this album. Some of the tracks here are just so insanely energetic and anarchic they sound like they have produced the perfect soundtrack to a riot. There are songs that poke their heads above the general mayhem, such as the industrial dance-beat affected Ghostly Imagination, the ominous, sax-laden Blah Blah Blah or the closing piano-led (Not) Last Song, but mostly this is an album to break stuff to! I know we are all supposed to stroke our chins and think deeply then write reams of crap because it's Boris, but fuck that, just slam it on, bounce around the room and have some fun.
4/5
Boris - "Heavy Rocks" (2002)
Tokyo’s Boris are an interesting artist in a creative sense as they’ve never felt confined to any one sound or scene &, as a result, people really struggle to pigeon-hole them under an easily understood subgenre tag. I’m not sure whether that’s been an advantage or a hindrance for them over the years in all honesty as they seem to have developed a huge cult following & always seem to draw positive acclaim from critics but have probably never managed to truly break into the sort of fanatical support that they so clearly deserve. Us metalheads seem to want to make sure they stay tightly wrapped within the banner of the underground metal scene however they’ve never really sat all that comfortably there & Boris' seminal 2002 fourth full-length album “Heavy Rocks” is a prime example of that.
The first three Boris albums were heavily directed towards a drone inspired sound & saw the band really building a niche for themselves through highly regarded records like 1998’s “Amplifier Worship” & 2000’s “Flood” but with “Heavy Rocks” we see Boris moving into new territory with a fresh sound that’s much more focused on traditional rock music than their previous records were. In doing so though, Boris lost none of their street appeal as they very quickly proved themselves to have a deep understanding of what it is that makes heavy rock music so exciting. There’s a danger in these sounds that we find so rarely in modern rock music & it takes me back to a time when rock represented an exciting escape for me as a youngster with the experience of the live performance taking on an almost transcendent stature in an artist’s creative image. You see, as with most of Boris’ lengthy back catalogue, “Heavy Rocks” really does sound like a recording of a live band with very few of the rough edges having been buffed out. You can feel the amplifier’s buzzing & almost see the kids leaping from the stage & thrashing themselves about in glee & that’s what makes a band like Boris so appealing.
Musically speaking, I have to admit that “Heavy Rocks” doesn’t sit as close to my musical comfort zone as Boris’ drone metal works though. Most people seem to want to lump it in with Stoner Metal which isn’t entirely accurate. There’s far too much of a late 60's blues rock influence in this material for it to sit primarily in the metal space. In fact, I really struggle to see why "Heavy Rocks is not unanimously tagged as Stoner Rock because it fits the description of that genre to a tee in my opinion. The loose vocal delivery is miles away from anything a metal front man might attempt while the overall feel of the instrumentation generally possesses a much noisier & bluesier outlook too. The psychedelic guitar excursions are brilliantly executed & are a real highlight for me personally, particularly album high point “Soft Edge” which is nothing short of spectacular (&, as is so often the case with me, is also the least popular track on the album). Boris simply seem to “get it” if you know what I mean & the fact that front man Takeshi doesn’t even try to stay in tune is completely overlooked in the interest of the elusive quest for heavy rock supremacy. There’s a deep-seated authenticity to this material that makes it inherently relatable but gives it some added x-factor as well. To put it bluntly, it's simply a way cooler record than the vast majority of the competition could ever hope to muster up.
In saying that, I do think that “Heavy Rocks” is a fairly top-heavy release. Despite not possessing anything that comes close to being a weak track, I have to admit that all of the best material sits on the A side with the flip side seeming to be a little bit lacking in comparison. Perhaps it’s simply a matter of taste as I would suggest that I was always going to be more drawn to the crushingly heavy stoner metal of opener “Heavy Friends”, the stripped-back psychedelia of “Soft Edge” & the more aggressive & dangerous rock outings like “Korosu” & “Dyna-Soar”. Boris would perhaps execute this stoner rock sound with slightly more consistency on 2003’s “Akuma no uta” album too but one can’t be too critical of a rock record with this level of potency. It’s all too rare that you encounter music that encapsulates what it means to be “rock” in such a clear & concise fashion these days so “Heavy Rocks” should be celebrated for what it represents as much as what it’s achieved.
For fans of Melvins, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard & Church of Misery.
4/5
OM - "Conference of the Birds" (2006)
I first encountered US duo OM (a side-project of legendary stoner metal trio Sleep) back in 2013 through their very solid 2009 fourth album “God Is Good” & immediately picked up a ticket to their show at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney which ended up being of a similarly high quality. Their bottom-heavy brand of psychedelic stoner metal really hit my sweet spot & I found the lack of any guitars (other than the bass variety) to be intriguing. The vocals of Al Cisneros were probably the limiter when it came to how far OM could travel within my musical stratosphere as they probably weren’t any more than serviceable but instrumentally these guys comfortably exceeded their meagre numbers. Strangely OM seemed to drift off my radar from there & I’ve only really gotten around to giving them a bit more of my attention now, a full decade later & this time with their 2006 sophomore album “Conference of the Birds”.
“Conference of the Birds” is comprised of just the two epic tracks; a sixteen-minute atmospheric psychedelic rock number called “At Giza” (which reminds me a lot of The Doors up until the last two & a half minutes when it takes off into crushing stoner doom territory) & an even more gargantuan seventeen-minute stoner metal monster in “Flight of the Eagle”. The former took some time to fully dig its teeth in but eventually became an engaging trip through a retrospective sound that has always appealed to me, capped off with a suitably immense crescendo that seemed unlikely halfway into the track. The latter had a more immediate impact due its more consistent focus on slumbering doom riffs of the highest order & should satisfy anyone with more than a passing interest in the stoner metal genre. I love the way Al works his ever-moving basslines into the pieces, in the process filling out the space that would usually be smothered with guitars. His tone during the heavier sections is filthy & I'd imagine that a lot of unsuspecting listeners may assume that they're hearing some seriously down-tuned guitars anyway. Let's just say that OM make one hell of a racket for a duo.
As with “God Is Good”, “Conference of the Birds” is another very high quality release that possesses both weight & substance but those vocals are again the reason that I’m not tempted to even take a casual glance about that 4/5 region. Let’s not let that distract us from the positives here though as I doubt OM have it in them to produce anything that’s significantly below par. I’d suggest that this release will likely offer plenty of appeal to someone like Sonny.
4/5
Church of Misery - Born Under A Mad Sign (2023)
The Japanese, serial-killer obsessed stoners are back with their first new release in seven years and the band have undergone wholesale lineup changes since 2016's And Then There Were None, in fact bassist and songwriter Tatsu Mikami is the only original member and CoM seems to have latterly become him and a crew of hired hands. For Born Under a Mad Sign Mikami has recruited original Church of Misery vocalist Kazuhiro Asaeda who has seemingly had an on/off relationship with the band and last appeared on 2007's Vol I. The drummer is ex-Eternal Elysium bassist Toshiaki Umemura and EE's main man, Yukito Okazaki handles guitar duties as a guest.
This time around Mikami focusses his attention on the likes of the Beltway Sniper, John Allen Muhammed, Alaskan murderer Robert Hansen and the infamous messiah of Waco, David Koresh. Uncomfortable sometimes though the subject matter is, Church of Misery have made a career out of utilising it in their lyrics and, I suppose, tap into that part of the human psyche that is fascinated by the worst that the human race has to offer. Let's face it, they are hardly alone in that regard as the public's seemingly insatiable appetite for it is also served by an endless stream of true crime movies, TV shows and books.
Anyway, questionable subject matter aside, Church of Misery have knocked out a really great slab of stoner metal this time - and I deliberately use the word "slab" because this is slab-heavy with a great depth of tone to Okazaki's distorted stoner riffs that, despite their groove-laden catchiness, have enough weight to crush a small elephant. The riffs have a bluesy groove that reaches back to metal's earliest days, but that still sound fairly modern due to their sheer weight and his soloing is psych-flavoured, but in a bad trip, Altamont, Charles Manson kind of way. Kazuhiro Asaeda's vocals really suit the band's aesthetic and I think he is probably my favourite CoM vocalist. His singing has a rasping, ragged desperation that sounds like a man with shredded nerves and who is at the end of his tether, pretty much how you imagine several of the lyrics' protaganists may have been feeling. Toshiaki Umemura puts in a fine shift behind the kit with some great fills and impeccable time-keeping, the drums being pushed far enough forward to make their presence felt without swamping anyone else. Apart from his songwriting chops being on display with as good a set of songs as I have heard from the band, Tatsu Mikami's bass growls away in the background like a disgruntled grizzly bear as it underpins the riffs and provides the propulsive force for the tracks. The production bestows a satisfying layer of grime over proceedings and allows the album to reach an extra level of filthiness that works well in it's favour.
I know that it is early days yet, but I keep sneaking back to this one and I am thinking that this may well end up as my favourite Church of Misery album to date.
A strong 4/5
Sleep - Dopesmoker (2003)
Sleep - The Sciences (2018)
It has been a long time since I was a literal stoner - I kicked all that shit before I turned thirty, but I believe, as I sit here in my early sixties, that I still have the heart and soul of a stoner. Despite this, I have not really paid that much heed to Sleep, which for a band so highly regarded in the stoner metal community, is very remiss of me. Truth is, I bought Sleep's Holy Mountain yonks ago but I wasn't terribly impressed by it's Sabbath copyist approach and I really failed to see what all the fuss was about. It was OK, but nothing special. So today's Fallen hole-filling is dedicated to a double-header from the Californian bong-meisters. Kicking off with The Sciences, whilst sauntering with Koko through the woods, I was pretty impressed with it's ultra-heavy doominess, Matt Pike's heaving riffs are manna from heaven for an old stoner like myself, but where it surprised me was in some of Pike's guitar soloing which reminded me a lot of 80's-era Frank Zappa on tracks like Sheikh Yerbouti's Yo' Mama and for which I am a real sucker.
This afternoon is the turn of the legendary Dopesmoker. I am listening as I type this and whilst I can understand some of the comments I see about needing to be hammered to "get it", I think I still carry enough of that stoner experience to be able to dig into it without the necessary narcotic accompaniment. I'm not gonna produce a full review now, but the crushing and hypnotic riffing along with Al's gruff vocal pronouncements is indeed having a narcotic effect on me and is actually incredibly relaxing.
For my money both of these are better than Holy Mountain and I expect to be teeing them both up again pretty soon and hopefully I'll be able to muster up a review or two. Anyway, it's been a great way to spend a lazy Saturday, now where did I put my old Cheech & Chong tapes?!
Trouble - "Trouble" (1990)
My knowledge of Chicago doom legends Trouble was limited to their first couple of classic mid-1980’s albums up until deciding to investigate their highly regarded self-titled fourth album this week. I’m a big fan of 1984’s “Psalm 9” record while it’s follow-up from the following year “The Skull” was worth a few listens too. Interestingly though, “Trouble” seems to be regarded as more of a heavy metal release than a complete doomathon though which intrigued me. It’s often referred to as one of Trouble’s very best releases too so I was keen to see what it had to offer.
After giving “Trouble” a few spins over the last couple of days, I’ve found it to be another very well produced & executed metal bum from a band that really knows their stuff. It’s benefited from a nice, heavy sound with a crisp clarity & some solid performances. Front man Eric Wagner in particular delivers one of his best contributions. Unfortunately though, there were some unexpected challenges to be found for me in the stylistic direction of this album. You see, while it may not be something that’s been widely spoken about, “Trouble” is actually just as much of a stoner metal record as it is a heavy metal one, perhaps even more so. None of the ten tracks can accurately be described as doom metal, instead offering a groovy brand of down-tuned riffage that’s very similar to that which English doom merchants Cathedral would start to push a few years later. Now I’ve never been much of a fan of your groovier stoner metal model. In fact, it kinda urks me so I’ve struggled with most of “Trouble”. Only the more heavy metal inclined tracks like “The Wolf” & “E.N.D.” have managed to offer me much in the way of appeal along with the Beatles-inspired hard rocker “The Misery Shows (Act II)” so I can’t say that this has been a particularly rewarding experience overall. Perhaps it’s just a case of a record like this one simply not being any of my business. I think I’ll stick to Trouble’s doomier releases in future.
3/5
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Land of Sleeper (2023)
Pigs x7 are a Geordie stoner band, their sound based around fuzzed-up Sabbathian riffs and a passing nod to 1970's hard rock. Pretty much par for the course I suppose and no, they don't break the mould of stonerized doom metal, but it is pretty enjoyable and more than passes the requirements of heaviness that we stoner doom disciples expect. I must admit that when I hear an album like this nowadays, I think that the band are probably more enjoyable in a live environment than on record, not because there is anything at all wrong with it, but because it is based around riffs that are 50 years old now and the lack of originality is less of an issue in a live setting.
I do find it hard to get over-enthused about a lot of stoner metal these days and Land of Sleeper doesn't do anything to change that attitude. I feel a bit bad about heaping such faint praise upon this, because there really is nothing wrong with it at all, and it does occasionally hint at a darker side, but there is just so much familiarity contained within the grooves of the album that it is hard to get overly excited about it, If you are new to stoner doom, or are just a stoner obsessive, however, then you may well enjoy this a lot more than I did and I hope there are plenty of you because these guys deserve it, unfortunately I'm just not feeling it.
3/5
I thought the same thing Sonny.
Nothing wrong with it, enjoyed it for a listen, but I've had zero want to go back to it. It scratched the itch for some classic stoner tunes at the time but like you said, it feels hard to get truly excited about something like this. 3/5 as well from me, hence why it didn't make it onto The Fallen 2023 roundup list.
I thought the same thing Sonny.
Nothing wrong with it, enjoyed it for a listen, but I've had zero want to go back to it. It scratched the itch for some classic stoner tunes at the time but like you said, it feels hard to get truly excited about something like this. 3/5 as well from me, hence why it didn't make it onto The Fallen 2023 roundup list.
Yeah, like I say, it is a shame, because the band are very competent and I don't like to slag off albums solely for sounding like other albums, especially in a genre like stoner metal where basically everyone's ripping Sabbath off to a greater or lesser degree. I guess the problem's mine, not the band's and over-exposure to the genre is the main culprit.
Cathedral - "Soul Sacrifice" E.P. (1992)
Coventry stoner doom masters Cathedral's debut album "Forest of Equilibrium" absolutely floored me back in 1991. I simply found it so refreshing to hear a record that was so inspired by the past yet presented its influences in a way that sounded entirely fresh & which contained so much depth. It certainly helped that it's one of the doomiest records I've ever heard in my life as I'm sure you all know of my passion for gratuitous waves of deep audio oppression by now. I'd purchase "Forest of Equilibrium" on cassette shortly after it was released & it would immediately become a life-long favourite of mine. I'd frantically go hunting for more of this sound too which would lead me to Cathedral's marvelous 1990 "In Memorium" demo tape which I also regard as a genuine doom metal classic. That would unfortunately have to do me for a while, that is until Earache Records released their "Gods of Grind" compilation CD the following year, a release that included E.P.'s from Carcass, Entombed, Confessor &... what do you know, huh? A new Cathedral E.P.!!
Contrary to popular opinion, the "Soul Sacrifice" E.P. wasn't recorded during the "Forest of Equilibrium" sessions, instead being laid down in January 1992. The version of "Soul Sacrifice" that appears on the E.P. is slightly different to the one that I regard as being the only real blemish on the debut album. The differences don't leave it commanding a different response from me though I'm afraid. I simply can't get into that more chuggy, up-tempo & groovy stoner metal shit. The other three songs are all brand new which left me with considerable excitement. Sadly though, two of the three take a similar musical direction to the title track so I find myself struggling with both "Golden Blood (Flooding)" & particularly "Autumn Twilight". Lee Dorrian's heavily pitchy vocal stylings are done no favours by this material either. Thankfully though, the remaining song "Frozen Rapture" is an absolute doom metal monster of the most epic proportions imaginable. In fact, it's seriously one of the greatest examples of the genre I've ever heard in my life & I can't imagine why it never managed to make it onto a full-length album. Sure, there's a short stoner metal groove riff accompanied by s cheesy cowbell about two thirds of the way through the song but it's all over very quickly with things returning to pure desperation & depression. I can't tell you how life-changing this song has been for me across my life. It still gives me chills to this day.
So, the "Soul Sacrifice" E.P. sounds fairly inessential really, doesn't it? It kinda says something that I find it to be comfortably the weaker of the four E.P.'s on the "Gods of Grind compilation too but "Soul Sacrifice" falls into a fairly unique bracket of releases for me in that it can genuinely be carried by the one stunning piece, despite the fact that I get very little out of the remaining inclusions. It's also worth mentioning that the online consensus that the E.P. is a doom metal release is overly ambitious given that three of the four songs clearly fall into the groovy stoner metal camp. "Golden Blood (Flooding)" has a fantastic doom section towards the end that sits right up there in the top echelon of the genre but sadly it's wasted on a lengthy track that spends far more time in Groovetown. I'm sure stoner nuts that bow down at the altar of bands like Sleep, Church of Misery & Orange Goblin might have less of a problem with this material than I do but I still don't see "Soul Sacrifice" competing with the better releases from the stoner metal genre. It's merely an inessential platform for Cathedral to showcase one of its finest moments in my opinion so I'll always keep the CD handy, even if I might use the skip button a few times (often to return to the start of "Frozen Rapture" for another run).
3.5/5