Get ready to be buried in a mammoth sized smokey cloud of savage doom with the release of Afghan Haze’s, “Nihilistic Stoner Hymns.” This Connecticut doom outfit throws down a sonic titan like ass kicking that will knock doom fans off their feet and have them laying around on the floor as if they were just given a chokeslam from The Undertaker.
The riffs on this album are monumental sounding and the more sludge/death metal like vocals inject an unapologetic attitude into the musical landscape. I know a lot doom bands right now want to sound like Ozzy with their vocals, however, I respect the bands that know how to right heavy grooving riffs and then change things up by unleashing some monstrous sounding vocals. Plus, when some bands try to sound like Ozzy they end up sounding like a grandma who took the wrong morning medication.
Afghan Haze’s sound is delivered with such conviction and ruthless aggression that you become instantly hooked when this band tears into one of their songs. Listeners will notice that this album is anything but a snooze fest full of cheaply made Sabbath like riffs. The band opens the album with a massive banger called, “Burn the Goat,” which comes bursting through the soundscape like a demon rising from the ground that then drags you straight down into a fiery inferno. You truly feel each chord strike and cymbal hit to where you begin to drift away into a hazy void of cataclysmic doom. Some of the following tracks like, “Blood Ritual” and “(Welcome to) Drug Mountain,” continue to highlight this band’s more savage like approach to doom metal, while also adding some abysmal sludge like touches.
There are quite a few songs on this album that may not feature the most technically advanced compositions to be written in the world of metal music, however, the overall atmosphere is what really stands out. I get tired of people saying, “I’ve heard this before,” or “this is nothing new.” To all those douche music fans, please go listen to your obscure progressive djent tech death jazz influenced albums and ride around on your old fashion bicycles and let us enjoy some badass sounding music while you hangout in your hipster hovels near the Dublin, CA Bart Station.
Moving on from my rant there, the one track that really caught my attention and made this album for me was, “Southern Bastard Church.” Talk about a ferocious world obliterating piece of music! The slower more diabolical sounding rhythms create a horror inducing vibe that honestly makes this band a force to be reckoned with in the world of doom metal.
Overall, the album does not disappoint from the first track to the last ear shattering distorted riff. Also, solid musicianship and production helps this band stand out from the usual suspects that need to understand how having an evil sounding band name does not make your music anything special. Afghan Haze definitely impressed me with their style and approach on this album and I know that there is a world wide horde of fanatical diehard worshipping doom fans who will want to give this album a listen.
Check out the entire album below via 666MrDoom's channel (Great channel that I recommend subscribing to if you enjoy doom) :
Link to the band's bandcamp to where you can buy the album:
Crawl Below's upcoming album, "9 Mile Square," is a fascinating release that gives listeners a glimpse into the rich history and local legends surrounding Norwich, Connecticut. This one-man project from Connecticut conjures up a doomy sounding world shrouded in a veil of harmonious sounding darkness. The artist behind this project, Charlie Sad Eyes, definitely knows how to write a strong and creative release from beginning to end. Honestly, this is an album you do not want to pass up! I decided to ask him a little more about the album as well as some other topics of interest. Check out the full interview below...
Hello Charlie, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions! Crawl Below’s new album, “9 Mile Square,” is out February 12 and I wanted to get your thoughts on the upcoming release. What can listeners expect to hear on this new album and how does it compared to your previous releases?
Thanks for the interview. Listeners can expect to hear a bunch of doomy melodic power ballads sung by a third-rate Peter Steele wannabe. I have to admit, back in the 80s I liked hair metal power ballads and wondered what it would be like if the whole album was like that. Then I just downtuned it and heavied it up a bit. And my friends say I sing like a sad Dracula.
Compared to previous releases... CB is a side project and a chance for me to try different sub-genres. The first Crawl Below release was D- beat black metal. The second was Lovecraftian acoustic pub songs (ironically, the best selling and well-received). 9 Mile Square is melodic doomgaze or whatever. The next one, already recorded, is death doom. After that, I don’t know. K-pop, maybe?
Before we get more into the album I just wanted to get some background info and talk about some of your musical influences. What bands did you listen to growing up that may have helped shaped you as a musician? Also, are you involved in any other musical projects besides Crawl Below?
Going back to the hair metal thing, my first favorite band was Def Leppard. As I got older, I got into punk, hardcore, and black metal and I think you can sort of hear that stuff in this album. My biggest influence is Social Distortion and I can’t seem to write anything that doesn’t owe something to Mike Ness. I’d say Alcest had an influence on this release also, particularly "Souvenirs D’un Autre Monde”, the one he doesn’t scream on. Also, my singing gets compared to Peter Steele a lot but educated listeners will notice I’m really just (badly) ripping off early Life Of Agony. River Runs Red is a classic.
As far as other projects, oh boy. I play bass in When The Deadbolt Breaks. Guitar and vocals in Sentinel Hill. Vocals in Holding On To Nothing and Low Moments. Bass in Banth. I do all the instruments in Animal Schoolbus, a grindcore band my nine-year-old daughter sings for. Our next CD is coming out in April. And everything in Good Morning Eastern Connecticut, a project in which I make fun of Connecticut metal people.
All the songs on “9 Mile Square” have something to do with Norwich, Connecticut and the vivid lyrical themes are definitely something I find that listeners will gravitate towards when listening to this album. What made you want to write a concept album about Norwich? As a lyricist what helps you find inspiration during the writing process?
New England has a ton of cool legends, my town included. Pretty inspiring in its own right, so it just made sense as subject matter. My own life is pretty boring, so I don’t have a lot of personal stuff to sing about. I hate writing lyrics but found it a lot easier basing it on local history.
Looking at all the songs on “9 Mile Square,” I wanted to know if there is one track that really stands out, or one that you feel most proud of when hearing it back? When I reviewed the album, I had a difficult time selecting a favorite, because the album really flows with such tremendous synergy.
Not really. It’s pretty samey all the way through, not very dynamic. I’ve probably gotten the most positive feedback about “Tarnished The Name” which is about the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold, who grew up about two miles from my house. I also kind of like how the chorus came out on “Feed The Towers” which is about the two massive casinos nearby and their effect on the region.
Now I know you have two music videos out already for a couple tracks off of the album, “Kingdom of the Ruined” and “Monument.” What made you pick those two songs to create videos for, and can we expect more videos to come in the near future?
For those two videos, visuals were easy. Kingdom Of The Ruined is about the Norwich State Hospital, which housed thousands of mental patients until it was shut down in the early 90s. Since then it has fallen apart and been largely demolished, but the buildings were architecturally amazing. My friend Bill Bates from Black North filmed that one. Monument is about a legendary Indian battle that happened here in the mid-1600s. The legend is that one tribe was chased to the edge of the cliff you see in the video. Some surrendered and some jumped. When you see this spot, the idea of jumping is absolutely insane. The chief of the retreating tribe, Miantonomo, jumped and broke his leg. He was caught, tried by a court of settlers, and executed. The “monument” at the end is his resting place. I might do a video for Tarnished The Name because it seems popular, we’ll see.
I was interested to know a bit more abut the recording process for this album, because I read on your bandcamp that you had written the album back in 2013 and then re-recorded it in April of 2020. What were some of the challenges you faced during the recording process? How pleased are you with the album’s overall production?
Yeah, I wrote these songs in 2013, originally with death and black metal vocals. I’ve been going through all my old music and re-recording it, and decided melodic singing would work better. I recorded everything at my house (programmed drums) and sent it to Studio Wormwood, an up-and-coming studio here in eastern CT. Dave Kaminsky, who worked at Morrisound in Florida, re-amped it and gave it a much bigger feel. He’s awesome and is working with a ton of great bands.
I’m not a good enough musician to record in actual studios, I’m finding out. It’s much more cost-effective if I do it at home and send it for mixing. There is, of course, a loss in quality but it doesn’t bother me. Lo-Fi Till I Die.
The only challenges were waiting for my wife and daughter to be out of the house so they didn’t have to hear Sad Dracula singing about casinos in the side bedroom.
Before the pandemic, what was the live music scene like in your area? Did you have many venues available for you to perform live?
Oh man, the eastern CT metal scene was super active for years before Covid. We’re the quieter, poorer end of the state but metal was killing it here for a long time, due to clubs like Altones, 33 Golden, and Strange Brew, and primarily Dwayne Eldredge from the band Mourn The Light. He was booking 3-4 shows a month as well as the New England Stoner & Doom Fest. The scene is kind of small but really tight-knit. I can’t wait until things get back to “normal” and really hope all those clubs will continue to exist. Luckily, in the downtime, most of us local bands have been writing and recording.
Do you have any other new projects in the works, or is there another Crawl Below release on the horizon? Also, will there be a physical release of “9 Mile Square” in the near future? CD? Vinyl? 8-track?
The 9 Mile Square CDs are in, limited to 25. That’s the only physical I’m doing unless there’s a need for more. If I do, it will indeed be 8- track. I have a bunch of stuff coming up. Animal Schoolbus (elementary school grindcore) album 4/1/21. When The Deadbolt Breaks (psychedelic doom) LP spring 2021. Charlie Sad Eyes & The Diminishing Returns (rock) full-length, summer. Crawl Below (death doom) full-length, summer. Low Moments (heavy pop-punk, even worse than it sounds) full-length some time in 2021. Sentinel Hill (heavy rock) full-length maybe by fall. An as-yet-unnamed raw black metal EP at some point this year. And I’m starting my own label, Lawnmowerjetpack Records, to put out all my side projects (including Crawl Below).
Charlie, I just wanted to thank you once again for taking the time to answer these questions and also congratulations on the new album.
Thanks a lot for the interview and I’m glad you liked 9 Mile Square enough to listen and post about it. Great questions. For those interested, the next CB will be entirely different. Big thanks to Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Zone!
Check out the video for the song "Monument" below:
I can honestly say that after listening to DSKNT for the first time, my mind has been completely dismantled by this band’s unconventional approach to extreme music. The Swiss based band does not waste an opportunity to inject a lethal dose of nightmare inducing black/death metal with the release of their sophomore album, “Vacuum γ-Noise Transition.”
As of recent, extreme metal bands have become very complacent and there a too many albums that sound painfully simplistic. I definitely respect DSKNT’s ambitious nature and hellacious mindset, however, at times I cannot deny the feeling of being overwhelmed by a massive rush of chaotic sounding instrumental arrangements. This album places great emphasis on constructing tormenting pieces of music, especially with all the agonizing tempo changes and blistering guitar riffs. The album is an experimental journey into what can be achieved when a band decides to ignore what everyone else is doing by focusing their talents on crafting some deviant sounding compositions.
The album begins with an ominous sounding track called, “Spin,” and you feel as if you are being thrown into a cold inhuman void that drains you of all hope and optimism. Right away on the next track, “Deconvolution J/ψ [Part I],” the band instantaneously unleashes a furious instrumental bludgeon. The drum parts echo throughout the song and send cataclysmic shockwaves across the musical landscape. Also, the vocals are so vile sounding and add such an abhorrent touch to the already face melting inferno like sounding wasteland. “Transition K0 [Part I],” is another unreal offering of abdominal sounding torment. While listening to the track I felt as though the band was pulling me in all these different directions to where you have no time to rest your mind.
Throughout the rest of the album the music continues to present this reality altering style of extreme artistic expression. Extreme music connoisseurs will really gravitate towards songs like , “Θ-Noise - Phase Shift” and “Deconvolution Ξ*0 [Part II],” especially if they are gluttons for cranial crushing guitar playing. The ear shattering guitar arrangements convey a tremendous amount of raw aggression, which helps keep the music flowing with an unapologetic ambition until the very end.
“Vacuum γ-Noise Transition,” is definitely an album more for open minded extreme metal enthusiasts who are looking for an album that crushes boundaries and tears away at the simplistic modern metal approach. Of course this band is working with Sentient Ruin and the album is expected to come out February 5, 2021. The amount of decibel defiling artists that Sentient Ruin finds is truly amazing, and DSKNT is right at home with all the other savage bands that are fueling the merciless drive in underground metal. I highly recommend DSKNT for people willing to step though the gateways of profound extreme creativity and unfathomable sounding surrealistic horror.
Sentient Ruin is starting 2021 by showing no mercy upon the metal world with the upcoming limited edition vinyl release from the sadistic French occult black metal outfit, Novae Militiae. For their third full-length album, “Topheth,” the band conjures up one scorching and blasphemous extreme sounding opus.
Right away this is not your typical black metal album with low-fi production quality and the same recycled Mayhem and Darkthrone riffs that end up losing listeners after the first few tracks. From the very beginning you are gripped by a merciless force that delivers one agonizing tale of pestilent artistic creativity. The album’s production is utterly flawless in terms of how the band is able to capture their abysmal lyrical themes by writing and recording some insidious sounding compositions.
On the album’s first track, “Towards the Sitra Achra,” Novae Militiae begins by providing listeners a glimpse into an inhuman sounding environment of sacrilegious horror. Eventually the guitar parts come frantically screaming into the picture by constructing these tormenting riffs to welcome the gruesome sounding vocals. Adding to the already morbid landscape, the band also uses some ritualistic chants to provide contrast to the tormented growls. Overall, there is a tidal wave of blood soaked chaos that comes out of that first track and on the next song, “Advent of the Prophet,” the band slashes away at more vile sounding compositions. I will say that the riffs are nothing I have not heard before, although Novae Militiae knows when to change it up in order to leave impact on the listener.
Two songs that I thought really stood out on this album were, “Faithfully Reduced to Ashes” and “Elevated to Him." All around the musicianship is extremely tight sounding and there is such confidence in the delivery of the band’s instrumental arrangements. Any band can write satanic themed extreme metal, however, if they cannot write a profound piece of music then they are just another gimmicky band that probably will end up getting featured on a shitty local show and then breakup the next week after the singer gets drunk fails to show up to practice. Until the very end of the album Novae Militiae kept hammering out sinister sound cuts of fiendish black metal and tracks like, “Afflictions of the Divine” and “The Table of Revelations” never lose that sickening devotion to crafting unholy musical offerings of limitless horror.
“Topheth,” is definitely going to be an album that extreme metal fans are going to want check out if they have not already. Also, people might want to grab a copy of the limited edition three-sided double LP with etched D-side being released through Sentient Ruin January 22 (Will leave link below!). As I noted earlier, this style of black metal is more dynamic and incorporates more elements from other extreme musical influences to achieve an utterly abhorrent and bellicose sound that should be taken very seriously. I don’t know what 2021 has in store after last year’s whacky bullshit, but musically I am feeling fairly confident that extreme metal will be doing well after hearing what Novae Militiae had to offer!
Starer’s debut album is a majestic journey across a vast uncharted landscape filled with the breathtaking sounds of symphonic atmospheric black metal. "18º Below the Horizon,” is an extremely cinematic sounding release that is constructed in such a compelling fashion that keeps you fully engaged right from the first track.
The artist behind this one-man solo project really takes atmospheric black metal and forms his own unique vision. I find the massive sounding arrangements and haunting symphonic elements create a profound sounding world wrapped in a blanket of comforting darkness. The production quality is also very impressive, especially when pertaining to the guitar parts and how the notes ring out in a triumphant manner. When listening to the compositions of this album I noticed that the music flows with great synergy, while also exploring a variety of different tempo changes and structural changes.
Out of the six tracks featured on this album, I definitely believe listeners are going to find little to criticize and instead will be intently listening to the epic symphonic elements that drive the artist’s musical vision. The opening song for example, “First Morning Light,” is composed extremely well and music evolves with such haunting grace. You feel overwhelmed by this massive rush of emotionally driven sounding symphonic sounds, but those elements never sound gimmicky, or cheaply thrown together. Also, the guitar riffs construct these mesmerizing mountains of raw sounding distortion to help strengthen the tormented vocal parts. I thought the opening song alone was a tremendous piece of music and built up an even greater level of anticipation for the next song.
Track number two, “Dayspring,” begins with a more intense black metal style by throwing you into a blizzard full of ear shattering blast beats and grim sounding guitar riffs. In the background you hear the cinematic elements provide a harmonious touch to deviate from the more fearsome sounding instrumental compositions. On the third song, “Son of the Fire,” there seems to be more catchy sounding riffs thrown into the symphonic mix and you can definitely hear some influence from the band Emperor at times during the song. The song also happens to be the longest track off of the album, so the artist is allowed plenty of time to experiment and guide you through this void like dimension of cosmic terror.
The last three songs, “Umbra,” “Vessel” and “Uncovering,” are solid pieces of music and do not stray too far from what was presented on the first half of the album. You hear what seems to be an endless amount of dynamic black metal arrangements that build these monumental sounding landscapes. “Uncovering,” was probably my favorite song out of the three, because the guitar parts were unpredictable and created this climate of blackened sounding entropy.
In conclusion, I cannot find too much to complain about here, especially considering how well the artist constructed this album from beginning to end. Also, the album never sounded sloppy which is primarily due to the solid production and musicianship. If people are tired of hearing black metal albums that end up sound like Darkthrone light, or are made by people who care more about their image instead of their musical talent, then you definitely need to give Starer’s, “18º Below the Horizon,” a listen.
On their debut EP Aberration unleashes a colossal landslide of destructive sounding ambient death metal that comes mercilessly crashing down upon the extreme metal world. This group of abhorrent minded extreme metal musicians conjures up a dark and agonizing sound for about fifteen minutes, so even though this is not an extremely long release, the band does a tremendous job offering listeners plenty of cranial splitting compositions.
Featuring members from Void Rot, Suffering Hour, Tvaer and Nothingness, Aberration is an extreme metal act that constructs death metal in a deafening and oppressive atmospheric fashion. The overall atmosphere on this release is very similar to the album’s cover art and you feel as though you are drifting through a cloud of unfathomable horror that messes with your sanity. The guitar riffs on this album create such haunting landscapes that suffocate all light as the music evolves, while the drum parts violently reverberate throughout the album showing no mercy as they deal out some thunderous sounding rhythms. I personally believe that the vocals provide the most terrifying yet also very hypnotic touch to the overall mix. In the end, the musicianship on this album is not to be ignored and they have a keen sense for songwriting.
The album is divided into three parts, however, the album truly flows from beginning to end without any choppy sections. Again, Aberration is a band that knows how to write and record music from start to finish, thus establishing a strong overall atmospheric presence that never loses its vicious dark edge. There are a lot of bands who fail to achieve this quality and usually end up losing listeners after about ten minutes of sloppy repetitive arrangements.
Production value is such a key component in terms of writing a compelling album and Aberration did a solid job with the production of this release. Right when the album begins you are instantly hooked by the hellish sounding ambience that eventually drags down into a cataclysmic world of mind altering death metal. I thought the second track on the album was where the band really placed great emphasis on creating this insidious sounding environment. I truly believe that the slower more bludgeoning style death metal riffs create a more haunting doom like atmosphere that demands your attention. The third and final section of the album features a consistent amount of relentless sounding aggression, which achieves this climatic feeling as music reaches its hideous and unspeakable end.
Fans who enjoy catastrophic sounding old school death metal that does not hit the repeat button on riffs and drum arrangements that have been done too many times before should definitely check this album out. Aberration’s unforgiving creative vision really stands out on this entire release and the band’s ability to hammer out extremely vivd and punishing arrangements is what I think makes this an impressive debut EP.
Aberration will be working with Sentient Ruin on the release of the album with a release date of January 15, 2021. The way I see it, 2021 is starting off to a solid start musically with one abominable sounding death metal release from Aberration. Let’s just hope everything gets better this year, because last year sucked worse than Morbid Angel’s “Illud Divinum Insanus.”
