Castevet - Mounds of Ash
Across Tundras - Old World Wanderer
Hawkwind Triad
Jeffrey Luck Lucas - What We Whisper

The Howling Wind - Into The Cryosphere Good stuff. Doesn't touch the Castevet though, but the album has its fair share of ripping moments - from slow-paced black/doom riffs to chaotic outbursts. Worth checking out.

Fell Voices - s/t Encouraged by the immense liking I took to bands like Skagos & Ash Borer I thought I'd give Fell Voices, a name which is dropped in the same circles, a try. Well this album has two songs, both around 20 mins in length and they're not unlike those long, expansive Wolves In The Throne room songs (slightly more aggressive at times). But where this loses out is the absolute piss-poor production - I'm all for kvlt production and whatnot, but this one just doesn't make the cut. I hope they release their next album with a boost in the sound - should be interesting.

Thou - Summit Fantastic just like GK said.

Magnus Pelander - EP Witchcraft front-man Magnus Pelander's solo project. This is a 4 song EP relying mostly on fluid acoustic chord progressions with piano/string backing, minimal percussion and well-thought out solos with Pelander's cool-as-a-cucumber vocals. Each song is completely different from the other and stands on its own - there are hippie-sounding bits, folkish portions, parts that sound like you're listening to a 70s ballad etc. 'You Have Got No Friends To Turn To' comes with a complete Free Bird lite solo section and 'Stardust' with its folkish tone could belong on Somewhere Far Beyond. Great stuff - I really liked this. Recommended.

The Mars Volta - Scabdates

WHO LET THE DOG OUT! Yay. Welcome back.

Heard a couple of mediocre albums on the way in to work. The generally reliable Blabbermouth really dropped the ball on Zuul - Out of Time. Boring standard order heavy metal album with songs that blur into each other.

The Panic Broadcast by Soilwork starts off with one of the best metal songs I'll hear all year - Late For The Kill, Early For The Slaughter. Given the lack of annoying keyboards, melodic Europoplite singalong choruses and some kickass lead guitar, I seriously thought these guys were finally on to something good. Unfortunately, all the suck elements, (including Speed's awfully unidimensional barking) were back in full strength by the second song and I gave up on this after the first.

Rebellion - History 3 This is the abridged title of some longass album name about the history of vikings. This was somewhere in the uncomfortable cusp between melodeath and power metal. I'd have liked it more had it veered entirely to the power metal side of things. As it stands, a bit of a yawnfest punctuated by some good lead guitar playing.

HathyaSaiBaba wrote:
Heard a couple of mediocre albums on the way in to work. The generally reliable Blabbermouth really dropped the ball on Zuul - Out of Time. Boring standard order heavy metal album with songs that blur into each other.
Haha! Reading the review, I see comparisons to Bible of the Devil, and am reminded of your reaction to their last album. So, you never know, it could get a 5 here as well. If we were writing reviews, that is.

Left Lane Cruiser - All You Can Eat Countrified punk garage rock that gets surprisingly heavy and loud at times and is held together by a pretty cool melding of country and blues. Nice stuff and pretty perfect for a Sunday morning start.

Misery Index - Heirs to Thievery For the first time in four albums, the band's not leaving me in awe. This is an album with a couple of great songs but they've toned down a little bit and some of the parts on a few songs sound almost pedestrian. Doesn't help that the good riffs have been heard before on the last two albums and overall this new one is a bit bland.

Jeffrey Luck Lucas - The Lion's Jaw Morose acoustic songs that are sort of like Antimatter's Leaving Eden but acoustic, with a cello and a lot more downer. Pretty good.

The Sabbath Assembly - Restored as One Jex Thoth sings and no idea who's playing but its a bunch of hymns from the Process Church given a 70s psych rock treatment. The church it self believes that on judgement day God and Satan will get together, sort out their differences and rain fire down on the earth. The songs are laid back stoner friendly and Thoth sounds more and more like an Angel. She's come a long way from that debut. Overall good stuff but gets a little same by the end.

NP: Sheavy - The Golden Age of Daredevils More hard rocking heavy metal than the last one and a bit mre up beat i think. Overall, sounds like fun.

Sheavy - The Golden Age of Daredevils Solid album and some good songs but nothing exceptional or great.
Early Man - Death Potion More retro heavy metal/ thrash but somehow manages to transcend most of the shit in this genre. Like a thrashier version of Superchrist and overall decent fun.
Doomshine - Piper at the Gates of Doom Horrible album name but solid old school doom in the vein of Solitude Aeternus and Trouble. More listens will need to happen this sounds like a keeper.
Manatees - Icarus. the Sun Climber This is terrific. Like Geisha without the electronics and with a solid doom base, this band is damn impressive. Liking this one a lot.

Broken Betty - Broken Betty EP Decent stoner/desert rock in the vein of QOTSA with some thumping, energetic, fun songs filled with bluesy solos and drugged out vocals.

Keef - Stoned To Doom A nice mix of riffs on this album by the Canadian band. Has some laid-back parts like Abdullah (esp. vocals), aggressive moments similar to The Obsessed and some fast portions which reminded me of Place of Skulls. Good stuff.

BLACK SABBATH- HEAVEN AND HELL CD
NINTH CIRCLE- VIRGIL CD
SLAYER- SOUTH OF HEAVEN CD

BOLT THROWER- WARMASTER CD
MOTORHEAD- ON PAROLE CD

Lightning Swords Of Death - Extra-Dimensional Wound This album was making the rounds as AotY material so I decided to check it out. It's your run of the mill energetic, satanic, riff-oriented black metal but nothing intricate like Deathspell Omega or this year's Castevet - it's more of a sloppy affair with chaotic, tremol-picked riffs and minimal melodies but it does have its charm. If you're a fan of Watain or Ondskapt you should get this (anybody heard the new Watain?).. Also I hear these guys are playing live sometime in late August in Austin - may catch them.

The House of Capricorn - Sign of the Cloven Hoof Good debut album from this stoner/doom band from New Zealand. They have a very unique take on stoner rock and manage to beat most of the cliches and emerge with a rocker of an album. The sound is great - thick, lush, fuzzy guitar and the vocalist has a weird Scott Stapp meets Jeff Shirilla meets Bjorn Flodkvist sort of thing going on but it works. The riffs reminded me of Black Stone Cherry's debut (except its not all happy all the time) with some Sound Garden-ish moments and general punk/grunge moments.

CANNIBAL CORPSE- THE BLEEDING CD

MALEVOLENT CREATION- THE TEN COMMANDMENTS CD
ICED EARTH- SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES CD

NUCLEAR ASSAULT- GAME OVER + THE PLAGUE CD
TIAMAT- SKELETON SKELETRON CD