High on Fire - Snakes for the Devine

"Unbelievvably heavy.. massive crunching riffs and drums that slam like vault doors" Revolver



Tracklist:
1. Snakes for the Divine
2. Frost Hammer
3. Bastard Samurai
4. Ghost Neck
5. The Path
6. Fire, Flood & Plague
7. How Dark We Pray
8. Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter

Link: Snakes for the Devine

High On Fire - Album Preview

Thats right, these fellas right here are about to release their fifth studio release, entitled: "Snakes for the Devine". The "single" with the homonymous album name is now available at Spin website. It brings some refreshment of what seems to be the same crushing tunes that you listen.

Dreams - S/T

This LP has proven to be an interesting document in the history of Jazz/Rock. A reflection of the open minded musical attitude that existed at the time, Dreams takes the sophisticated and more loosely structured horn charts and solos of Jazz and places them over a rock oriented rhythm section. The results are always listenable, never boring, and often surprising. All of the pieces contain musical subtleties that make this recording special. Certainly, many of the ideas expressed here were well above those expressed by Chicago and BS&T, yet the music is just as accessible.

The individual musicians were just beginning to stylistically assert themselves at the time. John Abercrombie's brief but eclectic guitar breaks (Devil Lady, for instance) are a hint of what was to come in his own later recordings on ECM, and Randy Brecker's trumpet and fleuglehorn fills embellish pieces like Holli be Home and 15 Miles To Provo very nicely. Billy Cobham shows his powerful style on the drum kit (however restrained) that caught the attention of John Mclaughlin and later led to his gig with the Mahavishnu Orchestra.



Tracklist:
1. Devil Lady
2. 15 Miles to Provo
3. Maryanne
4. Holli Be Home
5. Try Me
6. Dream Suite: Asset Stop/ Jane / Crunchy Granola
7. New York

Link: S/T

Mirror: S/T

Dead Man - Euphoria

To simply call Dead Man a retro-rock band is honestly not that accurate. Yes, there are plenty of moments where you'll hear that warm, familiar proto-doom guitar tone in the riffing and soloing, but Dead Man pull a wealth of intriguing cards from their sleeve to really help stamp a unique footprint in this now well-traveled path; and that footprint is swirled and surrounded by a mood that's chiefly breezy and blithe, thanks to Dead Man's copious use of feel-good folk. Dead Man take that jaunty, sunny folk and build it around a structure that's more focused towards psych/prog/doom-rock, which makes the formula work much better for me, and gives Dead Man a pretty unique sound when compared to their Swedish peers (eg Witchcraft, Burning Saviours and Graveyard).



Tracklist:
1. Today
2. High or Low
3. Footsteps
4. I Must Be Blind
5. From a Window
6. Light Vast Corridors
7. The Wheel
8. Rest in Peace
9. A Pinch of Salt
10. Euphoria

Link: Euphoria

Dead Man - S/T

A big plus for Kristoffer Sjoedahl's superb vocals and the bands feeling for melody and harmony. Another thing that must be mentioned is the effort put in to make the production sound so authentically retro. Dead Man is clearly one of the bands topping the Swedish 70's retro rock scene. Do not miss this.



Tracklist:
1. Goin' Over the Hill
2. Haunted Man
3. Mumbo Gumbo
4. Season of the Dead
5. Further
6. Highway
7. Deep Forest Green

Link: S/T

Wizard's Convention: Japanese Heavy Rock Showcase

Sorry for the long gone but, work and work and christmas are definitely not a perfect match. So I guess this is a special treat to all of you, who visit regularly the blog.

This is once again, an awesome demonstration of the great talent that comes from across the world, our Japanese fellas bring us a showcase of their best music. We've the mighty Boris playing some "Akuma No Uta" & "Heavy Rocks" material, Church of Misery playing (mainly) their fourth full-lenght studio album "The Second Coming", while Eternal Elysium break through with their heavy riffs, the Greenmachine dudes show us what is their sludge made of.





Boris:
1. Akuma No Uta
2. Ibitsu
3. Furi
4. Dyna-Soar
5. Death Valley
6. Korosu

Church of Misery:
1. I, Motherfucker
2. Soul Discharge
3. Red Ripper Blues
4. Filth Bitch Boogie

Eternal Elysium:
1. Twilight High
2. Splendid, Selfish Woman

Greenmachine:
1. Black Summer
2. Punisher
3. Burning Door
4. Anima
5. Fire Never Ends
6. Hammer And Burner

Link: In comments

P.S.: Merry christmas!

Dickie Peterson (1946 - 2009)

Thank you for everything.