OM & NAAM @ Europa. Oct 11th, 2009

OM - Rays of the Sun/To The Shrinebuilder Pt. 1 @ Europa Oct 11th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

OM - Rays of the Sun/To The Shrinebuilder Pt. 2 @ Europa Oct 11th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

OM: Cremation Ghat I @ Europa. Oct 11th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago I reviewed OM's new album, "God Is Good." As you might have figured out, I wasn't overly stoked with it as a follow up to Pilgrimage/Innerant Rays of the Sun. As a follow up to Gebel Berkel it was definitely an improvement but on a whole, I like the earlier shit better. Despite the lukewarm reception to the new album, I still love that band live so I got tix to see them at Europa with Brooklyn favorites Naam. Lichens and 6 Organs of Admittance also opened for them. Naam, as always fucking killed it and are sounding tighter and tighter every day. Robert, aka: Lichens played the delay pedals in a chair. Probably cool on album, definitely good for high people live. Somewhat boring as he just sat still with a microphone and a loop box throat singing into feedback loops for 30minutes. Pass the pipe please.

As for 6 Organs of Admittance... wrong bill. Stick to coffeehouses. If members of the audience are shushing other members so they can hear the band, you're at the wrong club, with the wrong crowd, and definitely on the wrong lineup. Go elsewhere. Probably would have been good if they were playing through a shit load of amps at a crushing volume with some sort of a rhythm section. On two acoustic guitars it sounded like the shit I used to hear the less retarded hippies try (significantly less well) to play at college. No thanks.

OM on the other hand. On fucking point from minute one. Started with To the Shrinebuilder and crushed songs from each one of their albums. Could have used a little more volume on Al's bass but other than that I'd say it was pretty fucking spot on.

Om with Emil is definitely a different beast all together. I meant to ask Al and Emil about this and the new album but never really got around to it. Busy times man. Anyways, for lack of a better term, I'd say Emil is a way more extroverted drummer than Chris Hakius. Where Chris really focuses on relentlessly hammering down the groove with no regard for fills or frills, Emil is all over the kit. Fills, rolls, beat changes, whatever. Unfortunately, it tends to be really distracting from the overall vibe that Chris was so heavy on setting up and holding down. Also, hombre really needs to remember the value of a change in dynamics.

Long and short: Dude kinda drums like an adorable yet overenthusiastic puppy. You know man, you like him, it makes you happy, he's a friendly little guy with a good heart that's in the right place but too noisy for the hunt. But, for this job, old yeller kicking around on the porch just chilling is the mutt for the job in this case.

Oh yeah, almost forgot one minor detail. OM now has three members. Robert of Lichens was doing all sorts of crazy shit like PLAYING FUCKING GUITAR! Yes, OM now has a guitar, a keyboard, some tambourine percussiony stuff, and a shit ton of delay effects. It's cool I guess. Again, somewhat distracting but really not too bad. I'm more of a minimalist though when it comes to my post-Sleep stoner drone doom.

Ok, now that I've gotten all the nitpicky annoying shit out of the way, this show layed it the fuck on. Thick. In the best way possible. It fucking ruled.

Al and Emil and Rob fucking barreled into the set and did what they do best. Play music to headbang slowly to. The audience and the band were totally on the same page, Al didn't miss a note, the new effects dude added some interesting new sections on to old songs that I wasn't expecting and definitely wasn't disappointed with. At one point between the last 2 songs of the set before the encore I actually heard Emil say to Al, "Man let's play more, the vibe is perfect in here." or something to that effect. All the songs were a little heavier and just barely faster than I remember them and it felt fucking good. Yesssss.

Next time though, Emil, dude, leave your pants on and stay behind the drumkit, you're harshing my mellow brah.

Weedeater Is God

Yup, the play count just keeps fucking climbing. More addictive than codeine cough syrup.

Shredpocalypse

Junkies Vs. Nazis in Japan. Whoa.

Insect Warfare in London

My boys Jim and Alex from London had the pleasure of experiencing Insect Warfare at their finest.











To see more sick shots (including a wet t-shirt contest) go to Alex's Webpage

When I met Jim he looked something like this:


Here's the video he shot.



Hail.

EYEHATEGOD, EUROPA, MONDAY OCT 26TH $15

With Unearthly Trance, Tombs, Howl, and Strong Intentions.

Fucking be there.

Oh Those Zany Norsemen

Just look at their crazy antics now...

Tracks of the Week (In no particular order)

New ones up.

Last weeks tracks
* Motörhead - Killed By Death
* Motörhead - Bomber
* Weedeater - Monkey Junction
* Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed
* Bongzilla - Greenthumb
* Electric Wizard - Return Trip
* From Ashes Rise - Uniforms
* DS-13 - Youth Crew Über Alles
* Hawkwind - Orgone Accumulator
* Fondlecorpse - Pillage Burn Kill

Whoa, Grisly.

Foul Play Man

Advice for the day

Listen to Tragedy & don't be a dick.

Fukpig - Spewings From A Selfish Nation

I know I posted about this album being on Abattoir666 the other day but shit is just too good to not post. Know how most of the time when somebody tries to combine a million different awesome things in to one package it usually turns in to some sort of cluttered, way to self-aware, annoying, steaming pile of shit? Yeah, well not Fukpig.

If you can get past the name, this band is one of the best fucking things I've listened to in ages. 2 of the dudes from Anaal Nathrakh got together and basically threw Tragedy, World Burns to Death, English grind, 2nd gen black metal, Motörhead and a huge helping of Swedish death metal into the fucking blender and Fukpig is what poured out. Un. Real.

When I first grabbed it off Abattoir666 I was expecting something along the lines of super straight ahead, grinding, snarling death metal. Within about 3 seconds my expectations were smashed as the D-beat/Entombed guitar/Tragedy Meows (you know, that like meeeee meee mmeeeee meeee meee meeeeeoooooowwwww thing Todd does with his guitar all the time? Yeah, that's officially been dubbed the "meow." Fucking deal with it.) dove straight out.

I'd break down every song for you but fuck it. Just listen to this shit and try to tell me I'm wrong. This album definitely works best when listened to as a whole though. It'll definitely be one of the best 30min of the day.

EDIT: OK so I say if you like Disfear and old Swedish Death Metal you'll fucking love this. Blake says it's like a more black metal Nasum. Opinions?

CLICK THE PIC FOR THE ALBUM.

Frozen Forever in Immortal Blackness

Apparently New Gorgoroth up on Abattoir666

Hit it. Oh yeah, grab the Fukpig album. Is come with recomendashuns from John Prolly.

http://abattoir666.blogspot.com/

The People Have Spoken

Due to overwhelmingly positive feedback, I forked over the cash to set up a drop box. Now I'm in the long and painful process of transferring everything over. I hope y'all appreciate this effort goddamnit.

Working Out A New Downloader Thingy

Ok so I'm pretty fucking sick of Rapidshare at this point and they just kind of stiffed me on some shit. My friend Jim just passed me a link to this thing called dropbox that I'm going to use. The Weedeater albums I just posted are up using that. Can you all please give me feedback on which you prefer? I think dropbox has no limit to how much you can d/l at one time, how many things you can get in a set period of time, and it has no d/l speed limiter so hopefully it'll be a lot better.

Seriously though. Gimme your feedback people, it's all for y'all.

Weedeater - ... And Justice For Y'all & Sixteen Tons

Fuck it man, can't post GL&GS without putting up the other two. Justice for Y'all is their first full length, 16 tons is their second. The thing about Weedeater is that there are no bad songs. Every song may not be the best hesher weed jam in the world but every song is good. Some (like Monkey Junction and Free) are fucking killers. All are solid as a fat fucking rock (of weed. A weedrock, or perhaps a stone of weed, if you will.)

I haven't really listened to 16 tons as much but everytime it comes on it holds the stoke.

CLICK THE PICS FOR DL LINKS.

Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed

If you look at my last.fm account plays from the last two weeks you'll see a few different things. Some Angel Witch, some Aura Noir, a little Rorschach today to get hyped for tonight and then you'll see like 54 plays of Weedeater. Shit is a dangerous, addictive substance.

Here's their latest off Southern Lord. It's fucking spot on from end to end. Shit, it even made me like a Skynyrd song by accident. Dixie Dave Collins and the crew are just digustingly heavy.

CLICK LINK FOR D/L

Deep Thoughts With Varg Vikernes

YES!

Who woulda guessed that Metallica is really a killer St. Vitus worship band?

Phases of the SunnO)))

Yesterday I went to see the Eagle Twin/Pelican/Earth/SunnO))) show at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn. I got there pretty late which led to missing Eagle Twin, who by all accounts were pretty rad, and Pelican (meh whatever).

Here's my recap of the show:

Phase 1: Get to show, up since 4am. Excited to see Earth possibly play old stuff through big sound system. Meet friends. Slayer playing as in between bands jams. Feeling: joy

Phase 2: Earth plays all new stuff. No earplugs required. Feeling: hard to tell, drifting in and out of sleep.

Phase 3: Go to bathroom, drink water so as not to fall asleep for longer during Earth. Too relaxing after long day. Feeling: Hippy mellow

Phase 4: Earth Ends set after 3 songs/45minutes, set up for SunnO))) starts. Between band music of "Lhopsang and Tenzin's Greatest Sherpa Chanting Jams Of The Late-Colonial Period" start. Feeling: Anticipation

Phase 5: ~12:05-12:10 Set up stops, lights go down, smoke machines start. "Lhopsang and Tenzin's Greatest Sherpa Chanting Jams Of The Late-Colonial Period" continues, on itunes repeat one song. Sound check can be described as, "Yup, sounds like SunnO))) alright." Also known as "loud." Amp count 1 Massive Earth something or other bass amp I think, 8 vintage Sunn Model T's. Total for the guitar amps: somewhere between 960 and 1200 Watts. Feeling: Still anticipation, wonder at how they're going to fill a space that's at least 5000sqft with 30ft ceilings entirely with fog.

Phase 6: ~12:40 "Lhopsang and Tenzin's Greatest Sherpa Chanting Jams Of The Late-Colonial Period" still playing for the 6th time at least, room now entirely filled with smoke machine fog. Feeling: bored as fuck, sore feet, sleepy.

Phase 7: ~12:45. Monks finally show up, shit gets real loud. Cool. Feeling: Um... vibratey. Zonked.

Phase 8: Emperor Palpatine shows up for guest vocals. Sounds like 45rpm record of Bill and Ted futuristic dudes and Beavis and Butthead being played at 5rpm to mimic "Lhopsang and Tenzin's Greatest Sherpa Chanting Jams Of The Late-Colonial Period". I swear to fucking Satan himself I hear/saw this dude do the "Be excellent to each other" salute. Also, pretty sure I heard the emperor say "I need Teepee," and "Bungholio" real real slow. Feeling: Supreme amusement. Slight confusion.

Phase 9: Trombone player shows up to join Emperor Palpatine Guitars back off. Sounds a bit rusty... Feeling: Officially confused.

Phase 10: Emperor leaves, guitars come back. Still sounds like SunnO))). Feeling: Back to vibratey zonked feeling. Relief.

Phase 11: Kaiju Big Battle man sized spikey mirrored shard covered sea cucumber appears from dense green fog. Feeling: Ok seriously? What the fuck?

Phase 12: Kaiju-Big-Battle-man-sized-spikey-mirrored-shard-covered-sea-cucumber turns into even more ridiculous Hybrid-of-Emperor-Palpatine-Kaiju-Big-Battle-man-sized-spikey-mirrored-shard-covered-bird-demon-with-huge-even-spikier-crown-of-mirror-liberty-spike-horns-with-laser-pointer-in-his-fingers. Returns to singing about bungholes in the style of "Lhopsang and Tenzin's Greatest Sherpa Chanting Jams Of The Late-Colonial Period." Feeling: Unsure... Mind hasn't fully processed this yet

Phase 13: ~ 15 seconds after phase 12, mind processes Kaiju Big Battle man sized spikey mirrored shard covered sea cucumber turns into even more ridiculous hybrid of Hybrid-of-Emperor-Palpatine-Kaiju-Big-Battle-man-sized-spikey-mirrored-shard-covered-bird-demon-with-huge-even-spikier-crown-of-mirror-liberty-spike-horns-with-laser-pointer-in-his-fingers. Feeling: Laughing too hard to even watch as Hybrid-of-Emperor-Palpatine-Kaiju-Big-Battle-man-sized-spikey-mirrored-shard-covered-bird-demon-with-huge-even-spikier-crown-of-mirror-liberty-spike-horns-with-laser-pointer-in-his-fingers shines laser pointer fingers into his spiky mirror crown of thorns

Phase 14: ~1.5hrs and 30 chords since the beginning of the set. Feeling: This is fucking ridiculous, I'm out.

Yup that's a SunnO))) show for ya. Verdict: Not enough drugs in the world.

EDIT: After sending this review to Josh of the Sleepies, we had a conversation that can be summed up as

Josh: "I kinda figured out that I don't really like SunnO))) at all."

Me: "Josh, nobody actually likes SunnO))). We all just pretend to because everyone else is pretending to."

This Is Not An Advertisement

All donations are (probably) tax deductable (or something)

Frontmanning, Not Just For Frontmen Anymore!

Whoa. Never seen a drummer try to compete with Ozzy before. Wonder if he got the job...

SHRINEBUILDER

SHRINEBUILDER SONG UP!

GET TIX HERE

The Accüsed - The Curse Of Martha Splatterhead

Sticking with the theme of new albums by formerly amazing bands that are good but not mindblowing, here's the new one from the Accüsed. "The Curse of Martha Splatterhead" (seeing a theme here?) features original guitarist Tom Niemeyer and a bunch of other PNW rockers (none original) playing the same brand of crossover thrash you've come to expect, just with better production and a glaring lack of Blaine Cook/Fart on vocals. The riffs are pretty solid, the songs definitely get a nod, and everything is pretty good. It's just not "Return of" or "More Fun" nawh'mean? Anyways, I enjoyed it. Wasn't mindblown but definitely didn't ruin my day.

CLICK THE LINK FOR THE JAMS

Tracks of the Week (In no particular order)

New ones up, you know the drill.

Last weeks.
* Crass - End Result
* Crass - Do They Owe Us A Living?
* Black Sabbath - Supernaut
* A//Political - Propaganda By The Deed
* Avskum - State Terrorism
* Hellbastard - Civilised?
* Noothgrush - Hatred For The Species
* Amebix - Nobody's Driving
* Cathedral - Utopian Blaster
* G.I.S.M. - Still Alive

Sweet Jams With The Sram Dunk

Excellent fucking find at Sweet Jams

OM - God Is Good

Although I wouldn't call OM's touring and release schedule "quiet" by any means, this highly anticipated album is really the first major release since Chris Hakius left the band over a year ago. Yeah they had that Gebel Berkel 7" (affectionately known as "that gerbil record" by Prolly) but that shit blew and they hadn't been jamming for nearly long enough to get a decent vibe anywhere on that album. "God Is Good" (NOTICE: QUOTES IT'S A FUCKING ALBUM TITLE DAMNIT. Not really sure what's going on with that shit anyways. Probably just some more fucked up weed hippy stoner metal shit.) is definitely an improvement over gerbil barker or whatever it's called and definitely qualifies as an OM album but still comes in significantly under Pilgrimage.

The first track, "Thebes," starts off with a changed band. Well, possible an even more fucking stoned band. Let me put it this way. Sitar. Yes. There is prevalent sitar action from the first second the needle hits the grooves. Kids, if you're going to smoke weed, put away the fucking Yoko Ono records. Please, do it for me, do it for all of us, but most of all, do it for yourself. All bitterness aside, it actually kinda works to set up the groove that the song takes, especially when a cello comes in at like 3 min in and puts a little darkness into the sound. Al and Emil also chose to put the vox way up in the mix, making them much more of a focus than they have been in the past. Again, not a decision I would have made considering you can basically build any OM song using the words, "Lazarus," "sentient," "pyramid," sibilant, and "minaret." Not even when the drums start kicking in around 6min (in a much more understated, appropriate manner than on Gebel mind you) do the vocals start taking a back seat. Basically, the whole vibe is much more "clear" and "produced" than their last efforts but still holds together with their past vibe.

8:28. The OM turns on, song get's better from here... At least until they start talking about Shadrach, Mishack, and Abednego in the next song.

After that it's kind of uninspired for a bit and then returns to the Thebes vibes at the end but all and all, it's alright for it's purpose. Definitely the weakest of their LP's, but still not bad for the genre (the genre being Tibetan monk chanting inspired, super droney, stoner doom...?)

Check it out just for shits and giggles and lemme know what you think. Basically, it's just not the same without Chris grounding the whole thing I think.

Toxic Holocaust/Atakke/Battletorn/Howl @ Europa. Sept 6th, 2009

Atakke @ Europa. Sept 6th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

666 by Toxic Holocaust @ Europa. Sept 6th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

TOXIC HOLOCAUST






ATAKKE










MORE BATTLETORN & HOWL

WEEDEATER/NAAM @ Charleston 9/10/2009

Rest of the Weedeater shots







Rest of the Naam shots

Weedeater attemping "Monkey Junction" acapella @ Europa Sept 10th, 2009. from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

"Monkey Junction" by Weedeater @ The Charleston. Sept 10th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Good motherfucking goddamn. Last night gave me that "I wonder what would happen if I started doing massive amounts of drugs and then ritually sacrificed my neighbors puppy to Zuul..." feelings all over the body. Weedeater is a massive, disgusting, unstoppable, menacing, snarling, unhinged runaway riff steam engine piloted by a fucking murderous lunatic. Fuck yeah.

Man, oh Manowar.

Just got this from Blake of Rats In The Walls fame. Man, that is unfuckwithable.

Workin' on it!

I swear, if this fucking internet connection runs any damn slower I'm gonna lose my shit. Sorry about the delay today, got plenty to post that's for sure.

- Crank

Holy God They've Returned

Mike Judge I love you

Tracks of the Week (In no particular order)

Last week's tracks.
* Corrupted - Inactive
* Iron Maiden - Innocent Exile
* Black Flag - Depression
* Big Business - Grounds for Divorce
* Pentagram - When the Screams Come
* Candlemass - Demons Gate
* Possessed - Seven Churches
* Noxious - Feeding the Guillotine
* Sabbat - A Cautionary Tale
* Sarke - Vorunah

This week's up now.