Clutch - Strange Cousins From The West

Back once again from the other psychedelic realm where Clutch reside, the band is ready to assault the masses with their ninth studio release, "Strange Cousins From The West". On this release they take a back to the past approach while still incorporating their metal attitude. Ever since Blast Tyrant, Clutch has been readily infusing a heavy blues influence into the mix and with this release they continue along that same glorious path.



Several songs even feature two guitar solos as Clutch inches steadily closer to jam band status. Many of these songs, from the first single “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” to the blues dirge “Abraham Lincoln,” seem ready-made for live improvisation. Strange Cousins isn’t a radical departure from the sound Clutch has honed on their last few albums. On songs like ”Struck Down” and “Let a Poor Man Be,” Clutch trots out the bouncy, Southern-fried riffs and subversive, sardonic lyrics that we’ve come to expect from the veteran band. It’s that rare breed of music that simultaneously makes you want to shake your booty and throw the horns.



This album is a winner for anyone who has been a big fan of the last 3 discs, even though Mick Schauer is no longer present on keyboards(Or Per Wiberg for that matter, Opeth). The lack of keys is the only detraction from this being a full rating of 5 in my book. The fans out there that were hoping that Clutch was going to return to the bombastic sounds of the past, like their self titled masterpiece, I am sorry to say that it looks like that will never happen. This album will find its place among my top ten albums of the year I am sure...maybe even the top 3..I can hardly fathom any other releases scheduled this year to be as kick ass as this one.

Band: Clutch
Album: Strange Cousins From The West
Genre: Stoner/Prog/Doom Influenced/Blues/retro Classic Rock
Country: USA
Download: Here

By Bez aka Hand Of Doom

Sirens Of Titan - S/T 2009

I was talking with my wife the other day about how bands with female vocalists seem to have a harder time making it in the metal scene than those with male singers. She said it was because they get lumped in with bands like Nightwish or Otep. I for the most part agree with her and maybe even have to push it further. It isn't just in the metal scene but in the rock scene as a whole. Female vocalists tend to get thrown under the comparison bus or simply classified as a clone.



That's what sparked my interest in the band Sirens of Titan. I had read a couple of things about them recently, most notably about Felicia Mitchell, singer. I had heard the obvious comparisons that most traditional female rock vocalists get...Ann and Nancy Wilson (Heart) and Grace Slick. I was sold on the premise that the band had some of that 60's hard rock mentality mixed with a good helping of stoner metal grooves similar to Trouble, Kyuss and Clutch. Add in the female vocalist and wow...I had to get it.

And I am really glad I did.



First of all, Felicia does bring up those names of comparison, but she is unique all on her own as well. Much like Janis Joplin had a sound to herself, so does Mitchell in that aspect. Her voice can be tender and flowing, haunting even...and then as brash and powerful as Dallas Brasca or Grace Slick...while invoking the depth of the Wilson sisters. She's not one to have comparisons brought against...she's a new name to be compared to.

Named after the 1959 novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Sirens of Titan slip a few other science-fiction references onto their self-titled debut album, most notably in the Scientology-tweaking 'Thetan Audit.' But their chief interest isn't sci-fi, but sludgy stoner metal in the vein of Sabbath and the Melvins, with guitarist Sam Rhode, drummer Conan Malady and bassist Matt Duffin brewing up a cauldron of noise that is well matched by vocalist Felicia Mitchell, whose tough-girl roar makes her sound like the kind of woman who might not start a bar fight, but could certainly finish it.



This debut album is a full hour of epic kick ass in the vein of the bands I mentioned before: Sabbath, Kyuss, Trouble, Clutch and even Soundgarden in some ways. The end result is a straight up mixture of doom laden, bluesy heavy rock and metal that will get even the most jaded rock fan bobbing their heads. SoT have a few standout tracks on this disc, most notably the funky "Lothario","Hang me Twice" and "Thetan Audit". Other tracks like "Dancing Methusaleh", "43" and "Washed Away" are in your face balls to the wall metal monsters. Even the slower, doomier tracks, such as "Saltonaut" are I daresay brilliant in their composition.

This band is not about having a female vocalist as their hook. They are about riffs and groove first and foremost. The fact that they have Felicia taking on the vocal tasks is just another feather in their hat.

This is a definite winner for any fan of female fronted rock and metal bands. It is even more of a winner when you realize that every single track on this kicks ass.

Band: Sirens Of Titan
Album: S/T
Genre: Stoner Metal/Psychedelic Hard Rock
Download: Here

By Bez

The Black League - The Ghost Brothel 2009

When I first got my hands on this disc I was a little cynical as to what the sound would be like. After all, the band is made up of members from some pretty extreme metal acts, most worth mentioning Sentenced, Impaled Nazarene, Chaosbreed, Beherit and Lullacry. I had a sort of trepidation, a prejudgment if you will, as to "just how are these straight up metalheads gonna sound doing a stoner throwback to the 60's". Well....pretty damned good as it turns out. Make no qualms about it now, this is a metal band, but a metal band with some serious hippie/southern fried blues.

Fronted by Taneli Jarva(Sentenced, Impaled Nazarene), whose vocals fall somewhere between a Frankenstein mixture of Danny Joe Brown(Molly Hatchet), Glenn Danzig, Roy Orbison,and even Jim Morrison, The Black League is a torrent of sound. Heavy laden guitar riffing from Maike Valanne and Kim "Heavy" Hiltunen resembles Steppenwolf and Sabbath without being a blatant copycat as is all too common in this genre. The soloing is excellent and just eminates the psychedelic sound the band has worked 3 years to craft down to perfection.



Ilkka Tanska is one hell of a bassist and his work with Rale Tiiainen on the drums laying down the monstrous backbeat pushes this release fully into the win category. From the beginning track, "Zero Providence" to the final bars of "Heavy Downer" this album does not have one lacking moment.

This album is a must for fans of the Stoner/psychedic rock and metal genre. Hell, anyone who likes old school rock bands like Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf, The Doors and Cream should look into getting this gem as well.

I don't know what it is about Scandinavia, but I can say this: That region of the world has done little but produced some extraordinarily good bands for more than a decade now and The Black League is among the cream of the crop.




Band: The Black League
Album: Ghost Brothel
Genre: Stoner metal/Retro 60's Psychedelic Rock
Country: Finland
Rating: 4/5
Download: Here


By Bez