Mose Giganticus – Gift Horse

Mose Giganticus is a solo project by multi-instrumentalist and singer Mat Garfield. Gift Horse is the name of his latest release and it’s somewhat of an concept album. It’s all about God and Satan facing each other during the end of days addressed from a philosophical point of view. Let’s see whether the music on Gift Horse matches its pretentious concept.

Crowbar – Sever The Wicked Hand

Although Crowbar has been Kirk Windstein’s main band for many years, he enjoyed considerably more success with Down and Kingdom Of Sorrow. Like many of his peers he suffered from alcohol abuse, but he managed to overcome his drinking habits. This is the main theme on Crowbar’s latest album, entitled Sever The Wicked Hand. Let’s see how severe and unforgiving this new record is.

Mastodon – Crack The Skye

Mastodon witnessed a steady grow of popularity with the release of each successive record. In some way their story is identical with the rise of Opeth. Both bands have long and often complex compositions as the backbone of their musical exploits and are heavily influenced by a vast array of progressive rock and metal bands. Without compromising their style, both bands managed to become part of the metal mainstream on their own terms. An impressive feat on account of them both. Crack The Skye is the most recent album by Mastodon and in my opinion their most refined yet.

Interview With Intronaut

Despite a number of fantastic releases in a genre that is becoming dangerously oversaturated, stoner/sludge band Intronaut haven’t exactly made a household name for themselves. Until recently that is. After sharing the stage with prog metal royalty such as Mastodon and Cynic (to name a few) and releasing their new critically acclaimed album into the world, Intronaut is becoming a band that you can’t ignore. I had the opportunity to talk to Vocalist/Guitarist Sacha Dunable about the music industry, embarassing road stories and all things Valley of Smoke.

Intronaut – Valley Of Smoke

In the slipstream of Down and Mastodon sludge metal is getting popular nowadays. Bands like Kylesa, Baroness and Black Tusk quickly followed each other. Los Angeles based Intronaut is another leaf on the great sludge tree, but rather an awkward one. They’re heavily influenced by jazz and progressive rock, thus creating a unique sound of their own. Both Void (2006) and Prehistoricisms (2008) are masterpieces in my book, so let’s see whether their new album, Valley Of Smoke, can hold its own against his illustrious predecessors.

Baroness – Blue Record

One of the strange and unintended consequences of our 24 hour rolling news and arts media is that responses and reviews must be instantaneous, immediate, or they get nowhere. You can understand this when it comes to news headlines, less so when it comes to talking and discussing music. I can imagine just how galling it can be for an artist to have spent about two years on what they regard as a masterpiece to have it trashed in print within five minutes.

Bison BC – Dark Ages

It has been predicted that the year 2012 will end in disaster. Land will crumble into sea, flash floods will engulf cities and important buildings will collapse into thick clouds of concrete dust and rubble. Nature will finally wage her war on humanity and people will die. As bleak as it all sounds, I have the sneaking suspicion that if these predictions were to actually come to fruition the boys in Bison B.C. would be the first to crack open a beer and welcome the end of days.

Down – Over The Under

As many of you might know Down is a so-called super group with (former) members from Pantera, Crowbar, Eyehategod and Corrosion Of Conformity. It basically started out as a fun project, however things got quite seriously when their debut album Nola turned out to be quite a classic. Its successor didn’t turn many heads, but still had some decent tunes. Their third record, entitled Over The Under, is a real killer. Let’s talk some magic here.