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

Serpent Throne - The Battle of Old Crow

Alright, from the onset I must say I love everything about this band. Everything. The album cover for this release for example. Perfection. Secondly, everything else about "The Battle Of Old Crow" is a pure vein mined of it's epic win.

"Old Crow" is pretty much a riff fest from the second one. They're one of those stoner-rocky kind of bands that pretty much live and die by the quality of their riffs. Fortunately for Serpent Throne, the riff-quality is more than enough to carry this record through 10 songs.

I should also point out as well that riff quality matters all the more for Serpent Throne because they're instrumental. Not too many instrumental stoner rock bands out there, but the lack of a vocalist on this record is decidedly not a bad thing. When you consider the fact that the vocals on a lot of records like this are some guy either trying to sound like Ozzy Osbourne and failing or some guy trying to sound like King Buzzo and failing, the lack of a vocalist isn't much of a problem. In fact, I think it gives them a lot of room to really kind of put how epic their riffs are front and center.

Serpent Throne is basically two parts straight ahead fuzzy riff-rock, with well worn riffs and beats, mixed with one part NWOBHM type epic, twin-guitar shredding, and a little dash of Morricone-esque dustiness. It's these last two elements that really set this record apart and push it over the top for me. I love riffs and I'll never knock a band for just piling thick stoner riffs one on top of each other, but Serpent Throne manages to kick it up a notch by giving what they do a kind of grandiosity which is sometimes lost in dirty riff-rock kind of stuff.

Overall, "Old Crow" is a great album to put on and just kind of bob your head to. If you're like me and you like your riffing with a little bit of epic, then I would suggest checking out Serpent Throne. I hope this record comes out on vinyl because I'd prefer to have that nice cover all big and stuff. To sum it up, this album rocks.

Band: Serpent Throne
Album: The Battle Of Old Crow
Genre: Stoner Rock/Metal, Instrumental
Country: USA
Rapidshare: Here

By Bez

Robert Calvert - Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters

"oh, for the days of stick and string."


At the close of the 60's, the psychedelic rock scene was at its pinnacle. With the likes of Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, and Steppenwolf leading the way, radio basically ignored a virtual smorgasbord of lesser known bands that in some cases it can be arguably said were just as good if not better than what the mainstream hippie had to listen to. Bands like Hawkwind, Blue Cheer, Audience, H. P. Lovecraft, and the subject of this particular review, The Robert Calvert band.

Remember those cartoons about gremlins terrorizing Bugs Bunny? Well, this disc is full of them and with these guys at the wheel defective airplanes is where it's at! The debut solo album of Hawkwind vocalist/poet Robert Calvert finds as its inspiration the apparently true story of Germany's purchase of the Lockheed Starfighter jet. Due to the modifications made in Germany's appropriation of the jet (the "F104G") that proved to be fatal, the Starfighter later achieved the dubious monikers "The Flying Coffin" and "The Widowmaker."

Captain Lockheed switches back and forth between monster rockers in the classic Hawkwind vein and Monty Python-like pieces that carry the saga along. For the songs, since all the key members of classic Hawkwind are actually on here (though Dave Brock is only present once), this is a veritable Hawkwind album in all but name, with strongest moments including "The Right Stuff" and "The Song Of The Gremlins." Lemmy Kilmister, the man so many in the heavy metal community refer to lovingly as GOD, plays bass in his own dutifully aggressive style. Brian Eno also is on board, and as Paul Rudolph and Simon King were with him to record his debut solo album, folks will notice an obvious resemblance in sound to Here Come the Warm Jets.

At their best, the vignettes are delightfully dark in their surrealism ("Ground Control to Pilot" would have made a classic interlude on Space Ritual) and humor ("Interview"). In the center of it all is Calvert, turning out a manic characterization of the Über-Teutonic Defense Minister with a crazed German accent that might make even Keith Moon slink away.

In the end it must be said that this album is a must have for the fans of classic rock, space rock, prog rock and Motorhead fanatics alike. Ranging in sound from early industrial (early foreshadowing of Brian Eno's solo work perhaps?) to experimental to even a Pink Floyd-esque moment or two. Alas, since this album is so meshed in British humor typified by Python that peaked in the early-mid 1970's, it probably won't tickle everyone's funny bone but in the end who really cares?. In my ideal world, however, an album with such a bizarre idea as its concept gets points just on principle....and this one does.


Robert Calvert - Capt. Lockheed and The Starfighters
Artist: Robert Calvert
Album: Captain Lockheed and The Starfighters
Genre:Space rock, prog rock

By Bez

3 speed automatic - nomans land

In the modern hard rock and metal scene their is a new trend to hearken back to the days of yore and take the stylings of the psychedelic bands from the late 60's/early 70's. 3 Speed Automatic is no exception. laden with enough heavy blues influenced power trio sound to even turn the ear of the most die hard Cream, Blue Cheer, and fans of the other gods of the hippie rock past as well.

To be totally honest, this is a reasonably generic slab of the modern stoner rock genre (that sounds harsher than it is meant), with the most noticeable point of reference being Karma To Burn, but 3 Speed Automatic are no mere imitators. Hailing from Rotterdam, Holland, they're a relatively new band, having recently released this, their first independent CD "noMans Land".

"painKILLer" is one of the main highlights of the album(although the way they spell out the names annoys the pc nerd in me). With obvious salutes to bands like Sabbath, Clutch and Leadfoot, this song is a winner.

"strANDed" is another highlight, harking back to the early (good ) days of Queens Of The Stone Age",
Guido DeBrichy is an excellent slop guitarist, belching out psychedelia laden riffs with much ease, while Stefan Persaud bombs your aural senses with his fretless basswork, while Willem Stevenes holds the songs together with his bonzo-esque free form stylistic drumming . Also from time to time the use of the Hammond Organ and Sitar is thrown in to brighten the song and add to the overall psychedelic flavor of the album. All in all this debut ep is better
than the glut of what I am hearing these days on the radio and I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre.



Artist: 3 Speed Automatic
Album: NoMans Land
Genre: indie/stoner rock
label: DIY (self released)

3 speed automatic no mans land brought to surreal soundz by Lord Bez

by Lord Bez