1. Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth – I Am – Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth (2007) (0:00)
TAD were pretty much the heaviest grunge band of the nineties, and one of the Pacific Northwest bands that never got their proper due. After they dissolved in 1999 though, lead singer/guitar player and bandleader Tad Doyle delved even further into the heavy underground, starting the noisey Hog Molly (who we played on Plaguelist #9), and eventually even doing a group with Mike Scheidt of Yob called Lumbar. But in between those two bands was the formation of Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, a doomy post-metal three piece that ended up on Neurot Recordings. It definitely has a Neurosis vibe to it, but filtered through Doyle’s own songwriting style. It’s all at once heavy, loud and melodic.
2. Sumac – Rigid Man – What One Becomes (2016) (08:18)
If someone told me that there was going to be a band that would do experimental sludge metal fused with free improvisation, I would have shown some interest. If they told me that band was going to feature Aaron Turner of ISIS and Old Man Gloom and Brian Cook of Botch and Russian Circles, well I don’t know what I would do. I guess I would do exactly what I did when it happened, which was buy their records. Turner’s penchant for ugly, doomy music is matched perfectly by Cook and drummer Nick Yacyshyn, and they are probably one of the best bands around right now. Their album May You Be Held got my top album of last year, for whatever that’s worth.
3. Field Observations – Bad Dream – 7075 (2021) (18:52)
Field Observations is an ambient/drone/noise artist from Brooklyn. 7075 is a new release of partially composed but mostly improvised material. The album has a really nice flow, moving through different sonic textures and layers of tones, building to its centerpiece, a track called “Duquan.” From there, it floats along until its conclusion, which is “Bad Dream,” a track of ambient guitar chords. In the same way “Alice” closes Sunn’s Monoliths And Dimensions, “Bad Dream” has a mellow bleakness – there a dense sounds but they aren’t loud. Reverb starts to swirl around the track building into an almost piano-like trance of overtones. It’s a pretty creepy sounding number. Go buy this tape - it’s good and the money goes to help a cat rescue.
4. Boris – Heavy Rain – Noise (2014) (27:15)
Japan’s Boris are one of the most difficult bands to follow, releasing multiple albums each year that span such a wide breadth of sounds from doom metal to noise to rock and roll. And these albums often have multiple versions with rearranged sequencing and different track lists. It can be a lot to take in, but if you stick with it, you end up getting rewarded with albums like Noise (and last years NO). “Heavy Rain” is one of the standout tracks on this fantastic record. It fuses mellow, ambient shoe-gaze with ultra-heavy doom, sort of a cross between My Bloody Valentine and Ahab, all with guitarist Wata’s pristine sounding vocals. If there ever was a song to describe the word melancholy, it is this one.
5. Xysma – We Just Came Inside – Lotto (1995) (33:25)
There is something about when Nordic extreme metal bands branch out into other genres that I can’t get enough of. Xysma, from Finland started out as a death metal/grindcore band but evolved well beyond that, exploring psychedelic and even pop rock. Lotto was their fourth album, by which time they had already shed their brutal past for some real seventies sounding rock. “We Just Came Inside” is somewhere between punk, classic rock and grunge with an oddly approachable chorus and, dare I say, fun guitar solo.
6. Swarm Of The Lotus – From Embers – When White Becomes Black (2004) (36:20)
I like to think of Swarm Of The Lotus as a stew, and the ingredients are bands from the late nineties Hydrahead Records roster – one part Botch, a pinch of Knut, a spoonful of Keelhaul and maybe a touch of Converge as garnish. The production on this album was wild – it’s like everything is pushing the red at every moment. Even though you can clearly tell where they got all their ideas from, its still a great listen.
7. Zozobra – Bird Of Prey – Hydrahead Champions Of Sound (2008) (41:51)
This comes from a limited edition 7” Hydrahead put out to accompany their 2008 Champions Of Sound tour, which consisted of Stephen Brodsky, Kayo Dot, Pelican and, of course Zozobra. While the song shares a title with the second Zozobra album (also released in 2008), it does not actually appear on that record, though it does share the same lineup of Aaron Harris of ISIS on drums and Caleb Scofield of Cave In and Old Man Gloom on everything else. Essentially a solo project for Scofield, each album and tour featured different members accompanying his blaze of post-metal fury. On the Champions Of Sound tour it was Brodsky on guitar and Santos Montano of Old Man Gloom on drums. RIP to a great musician.
8. Dazzling Killmen – Blown [Face Down] – Face Of Collapse (1994) (45:12)
Dazzling Killmen were a noisy, math rock group with some hardcore influence. Think Unsane meets Deadguy and you’ll have some sort of idea what I’m talking about. The record is pretty wild, which explains why they often get overlooked when people talk about the whole noise-rock thing. Maybe if they were on AmRep they would have gotten more attention. But with a raw as hell production from Steve Albini, Face Of Collapse – their second and final album – is definitely an album anyone interested in the time period should know.
9. Wrekmeister Harmonies – The Alone Rush – The Alone Rush (2018) (51:02)
JR Robinson is the main figure behind the eerie sounds of Wrekmeister Harmonies. Along with a rotating cast of musicians, he has released some of the most beautiful and horrific sounding music out there, combining ambient noise and drone-doom. “The Alone Rush” is the closing section to the hour-long piece of the same title and slowly builds along a single tone. Strings, keys and percussion slowly enter the mix until the song reaches its peak with a low sung vocal. It’s very serene and very cathartic.
10. Oxbow – Gal – Let Me Be A Woman (1995) (58:02)
This is one of the most disturbing songs I have ever heard. Lyrically, it is about a child experiencing sexual abuse, and from what I understand it is based on something that really happened to vocalist Eugene Robinson. But what makes it truly terrifying is that the music matches the tone of the lyrics. For every scream, yelp or moan Robinson throws out the band finds the right complementary tone – part blues, part sludge.
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