Tar Pit : "Scrying the Angel Gate"

This is the sophomore album from this Portland doom band. Thematically, there is a darker Lovecraftian theme going on, though balanced out but an almost jammy feel as the opening track unfolds with organ haunting the lurching riff that serves a the plodding backbone of the song. They do lock in a more metallic sound before the howling croon of vocals comes in. Vocalist Don Gonzalo, belts it out well. He is not as blatant an Ozzy disciple as what we have heard from other bands. In fact, it sounds like he might be more influenced by Wino in some respects, though he has more power in his pained declarations. 

At three and a half minutes, "Covern Vespers" is a more restrained rock that packs a compact punch rather than sprawling out. I think even in doom, it is important for a band to be able to rein it in and just write a song. The vocals sit further back into the guitars on this one. "Jubilee" is less jubilant than the boogie of the previous song and carries a darker blues creep. The guitar player impresses me on this one. There is more Sabbath influence in this one than in the previous songs. "Blue Light Cemetery" might be about cell phones. The vocals work best when he belts it out. There are some uncertain moments in the more introspective phrasing at the beginning of the song. Midway into the song, it wanders off into a jam. They lock back in with the stomp of a heavier before the song's end. 

"Blessed King of Longing" conforms closer to the expectations of traditional doom. The drummer leans into his Bill Ward influence, which is not a bad thing to bring to the table. There is more of a "Vol 4" feel to the title track that closes the album; the vocals cry out from behind the guitars. Midway into the song, things die down into a more atmospheric darkness.  I will give this album a 9, as it carries the torch for Sabbath in a different way that does not make these guys a tribute band, but brings their sound to the table. More bong-centric doom fans should rejoice. 

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Strangeweather : "S/t"

My bud Sean at Cvlt Nation was on the right path when he called this album perfect. This is Portland based bands first release as a four-piece. At times they play a dark hearted Neo-folk with an Appalachian breeze blowing through the melody. The members switch off vocals resulting in  bringing  wide range of moodiness to the gloom not unlike Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, these kids just don't engage in the gymnastics and instead weave a dirge like mourning to melodies each instrument and voice embraces while adding another swathe of gray to the sonic tapestry. This is not to say they are not capable of weaving intricate webs of angular beauty as they do on "Dear Disaster" it's just not on the Mr. Bungle level,nor would that sort of thing really work with mood being established here.The Sleepy Time comparison is only a stab defining one element at some points I can hear a little Rasputina at others Murder By Death, namely the "Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them " album.

The vocal blend on "All the Prisons part 2" confirms they have really created something unique here. At times the lyrics carry the indignant unease of post- punk, but the sound track they are set upon has the elegance that I'm always bitching about as being the x-factor that all these wanna be goth bands don't get. This gives them more emotional weight and at times makes them heavy in feeling rather than metal. At other times the lyrics have a romantic disillusionment. The two female singers are particularly stunning on "Dear Disaster".

The cello driven "Midnight Sun" strips away the multi layered sound that has prevailed thus far on the album. There is more of a rock feel to "Two of Pentacles".The vocal performance is one of the albums most impassioned.The guitar snakes along with a hunger that gives it an almost metal aggressiveness. The sequel to this song is a little more on the ethereal side.It should come as no surprise that I am going to go ahead and slap a 10 on this one. This album will appeal to a wide margin, fans of Amanda Palmer,Chelsea Wolfe, Rasputina, Sleepytime, as well as Agalloch's more chill moments will all find something to sink their teeth into. One of the rare album that achieves this kinda of dark beauty with depth the their songs. The first song I played for my girlfriend was "All Prisons part 2" and she thought it was just more of the droning drug music I like, so you have to listen to this as a whole work to really get the full effect or have been involved with heavy narcotic use for a period of more than five years. Do not play while operating heavy machinery.

Black Metal History Month: Infernus -"Grinding Christian Flesh"

Going through some of the black metal albums that are building up in my in-box .When you name your album "Grinding Christian Flesh" there is no playing around. So this album is a thick as any death metal album, but is still blast heavy. The vocals are a higher rasp so not deathly, like Archgoat, though the two bands seem to be coming from a similar place. These guys might not have as much of a death metal influence. The punches though to come across more like a death metal band so it's hard to tell what is coming from where in that regard.

These guys can play their instruments brutality be damned. There melodic guitar at the beginning of "Worms of the Casket" makes this fact known , before they default into blasting the mc nasty out of things. There is a wink to Dissection in how they go back into clean guitar. The haphazard need for speed when not tempered with melodic sensibilities , will only go so far for me. the thrashing of "Pagan Warfront" is not full embraced with it feel like the gears are stuck. It is shocking to find out these guys are from Portland , as they have really embraced the right feel. I was thinking they were from  Finland.Speed is handled well on the grinding of "Candles, Horns and Tongues". There are some very Slayer moments, in the drive of the chugs they hit from time to time.

The revert to relying on raw speed for "Sodomfeast" until the bass breaks things up and they reach into their bag of tricks. The song that follows also relies , perhaps to much on speed and I was unaware the song switched over. It's not until they catch up with the more punk rock if the riffs that they have my ear. It seems an unspoken trend with these uber brutal bands that to combat the fifteen minute song some of the hipster black metal bands engage in and instead the condense the songs down to in and out lashings. "Hang the Gutted Christians" find the vocals going into a more Inquisition like croak, before the slowed chunked out riffs hits.

The albums final two songs begin to wrap the album up with the passionate sounds of goats being defiled. They cash in their speed chips once again. "Whore of Christ" , is paced in a almost continuous manner as the previous song. The vocals are spit out more like something Venom would do, though considerably faster. They also hit a Horna cover and an Inquisition cover, but we are just going to focus on the album at hand, which focuses on one dynamic for the bulk, but the other shades of black they paint with work as well. I will round it up to an 8.If you like either of the bands they cover add another point.

Shadowhouse: "Hand in Hand"

One thing that was noticeable int 2014 is where most of the current crop of "post-punk" revivalist bands trying to bring back goth missed the boat. Sure a lot of it was enjoyable, some of it even memorable, but it lacked something very tangible that made 80's post-punk/death-rock/goth bands what they were. That x-factor is elegance and romanticism. Shadow House gets this. They have ample rock kick to  the opening track, but the x-factor is  best  showcased on "Haunted". The synths are a key part of this, but the guitar is really complimenting it, to create layers. These layers are what keep them from just being a dark punk band.They don't shy from the kinetic elements of punk that goth sprang from. But truth be told goth owes much more to David Bowie's theatrics than it does the Dead Boys.

The emotive web woven on "Lonely Psalm" re kindles the same passionate place that made "Disintegration" such a great album. It's the sort of feeling that makes me want to stop eating, grow my hair out and start smoking clove again.The songs are less sprawling than the pictures Robert Smith paints with his guitar, yet despite the some what lo-fi production the guitarist makes the most with what he is working with. All the right effects are in all the right places. The singer has heart to his baritone croon, he is not just doing an Ian Curtis impersonation. "Old Crime" could almost be spun into an 80's night set and go unnoticed.

Dynamically they work in varied shades of gray. The band's motto is "Play loud, dance slow" is the majority of the songs cater to that ethos. The pace gets brisker for "Start Again", ebbs and flows back and forth from the moodier verse to the more pulse pounding chorus. Lyrically  these poetic shout outs to  heartbreak are moaned out in vague metaphor. "Toys" carries a dark western feel to it, the guitar tone here hits it's creepy peak. While the band cites the Chamelons on their Facebook as their influence, the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen certainly seem more prevalent. Whatever the case aside from guitar tones, their is no glaring mimicry. In placing the emphasis on letting each song stand on it's own two feet, they are surprisingly original in a genre that owes so much of it's life to the past. They really go against the grain by really only giving a nod to Joy Division with albums darkest song 'We Don't Belong" that closes out the album. The singer also takes on a lower more dead pan inflection in his voice.

This album is by and large without flaw so I'll round it up to a ten and see how it stays with me. If you are tired of the same old same old hipster post-punk then these guys are worth your while, strangely being from Hipster centric Portland, they are very honest and devoid of irony in what they do. These are not some hard core kids playing around after listening to 'Flood Lands" they are well verse in what makes the genre work. They are on the second pressing of the single for "Haunted" the full length is being released on Gone Home Records. Mass Media Records. So seek them out, or this will be the best goth record of 2014 that you didn't get to hear.

Usnea: Random Cosmic Violence

Seems like they are even darker and doomier than before, this sacrificed a little of the death metal element from the first album, but that is fine by me as they have open a new door to a different dimension of sounds. The drone of the spoken vocals at the beginning of "Lying in Ruin" is not far removed from something you might find on an older Atriarch album.The vocals often take on a more maniacal Graves at Sea type scream.Like we say about most extremely heavy bands the weight that they hit you with has so much momentum the first song is going to wow you regardless of how original it is or isn't just out of sheer heaviness.On the merits of the crushing riffs at the eight and a half minute mark alone, the song wins me over.

The snarl of the vocals hits you firs on "Healing Through Death", they are going to need to pull out more tricks here as I am now used to their rumble. What the band has going against them in terms of how much actual play I will get from this album, is the fact all of the songs ...and there are four of them, clock in at at least 12 minutes the longest 15. With doom that's not too long considering how they take there time getting from one not to the next .I would almost say they are sludged out doom, rather than funereal doom, which has a more romantic mourning to it.They touch on a few of these melodic passage,but are more
 interested in crushing you.At the seven minute mark they briefly at a melodic funereal doom melody, but resort to being more punishing.

The clean guitar intro of the title track kinda falls out of the previous song. The low drone of the vocal chant follows before the slowly bring the distortion on harsh vocals. One of the more dynamic songs as they quickly switch from clean tones to an aggressive death metal influence stomp.They speed up in full
blown  blackened death metal, as their death metal roots come out and they are unable to maintain the plodding tempo.

It closes with a more standard doom piece "Detritus". It takes a slightly angular take on a doom riff midway through but mainly rumbles along the road more frequently travelled. I think this album's strength is they are a death metal band coming at doom from a different perspective rather than guy who have spent their lives worshiping Black Sabbath.I'll give this one an 8, the last songs is them taking the easy way out but, if you like really mean doom in the vein of Graves at Sea, but more melodic, then check these dudes out.

Night Fell: "The Living Ever Mourn"

Moving on with our black metal for black history month trend, we are coming upon another genre crossing band in Night Fell. This Portland brings other elements to the table , but they are generally dark enough to sit under the black metal banner. In some ways it makes them more like classic black in the sense of early Mayhem and Celtic Frost. Their riff find doom laden groove, which make for a fun listen.

The guitars when played faster certainly capture the black metal sound tonally. I can hear bands like Craft in their dirty sound. The wretched vocals lean closer to the more deathly elements of doom. I don't really hear the sludge they get tagged with, it sounds like gritty , but straight up metal for the most part, the guitar riff to "I Am Decay" has a good hook to it . The drumming leans more towards death metal as well. It keeps thing moving even when it slows into a more doom like crawl.

The albums creeps into darker corners on " Empty Prayers" that holds a more funeral doom melody in the guitars and a clean vocal chant. This swings like a drunken pirates hymn. The Tempo taking a shift on " the Hollowing" the opening riffs is tensely pick as the toms build around it in a almost tribal manner before it breaks into more of a gallop.It tramples into some pretty epic storm the gates riffing, touching on the more trash flavored black metal. There is a weird break down in the finals minutes where drums pick up the kind of tension the guitar had established at the beginning of the song and the vocals take on a lower more spoken quality.

"Altars to Wrath" leans back into the more doom like lurch before taking off into a deathly chugged black swirl. The very melodic bridge section, is some what Dissection to me.   The album closes out with the song "Funeral Dirge" that opens with creepy guitar in more of a ...funeral doom place tonally, which lives up to the titles name and should come as no surprise, though when the song actually kicks in it goes with a more epic yet melancholy gallop.

Overall this album surprised me in the both quality and songwriting, it held much more blackness to it than what I had heard about these guys and surprises me that this came out of America, so I will round it up to a 9.