Clutch - Blast Tyrant

Clutch - Blast Tyrant (2004)


Wow, what can I say about this album haha...this is another record that constantly blows me away everytime I listen to it, there is something about groove ridden, heavily bluesy music with killer hooks that just speaks to me I guess. I first heard this band probably 4-5 years ago through various channels, TV, internet and magazines were all hyping the shit out of this album claiming it was one of the best stoner rock albums ever released...I do not beg to differ haha. This album is Clutch's 'perfect' record for me, great clear production, killer songs, amazing tone on all instruments, amazing vocals and intelligent, well thought out lyrics. This is one of those albums for me that I can listen to time and time again and never get sick of it and each time I listen to it I find something else about it that I love. It has also been a great source of inspiration for my drum playing and admittedly I've probably 'stolen' about a dozen drum fills from it.

Neil Fallon's voice on this album is extraordinary, he finds a great mix of gruff, angry blues singing and perfect vocal harmonizing to get across his lyrical messages. I have not been as stoked on a persons voice since the first time I heard Pantera when I was in year 6. I find it hard to pick out favorite tracks on an album I see as perfect as they are all my favorites, but some killer tracks include, 'Mercury', '(Notes from the Trial of) La Curandera', 'The Regulator' and 'Subtle Hustle'. Among the other things I have said about this album, I find it perfect due to the fact that it has a great mix of slower more relaxed songs and balls out blues jams. It is one of those albums you can put on at anytime, anywhere you are and it will be fitting and you will be so happy that this was the album you put into your cd player. I dont know what else I can say about it, its fucking mind blowing how good it is...if you like music, listen to this album and this band.

-------------------------------------

I went to Sydney yesterday, it was weird, the show was cool, bands were good, but I was more stoked on the fact that I was doing something with my friends than the fact that I went away. Over the past 3ish years I've made some of the best friends I've ever had, genuine people who will do anything for you and all it took was joining a band that played music that I had never heard before, best musical decision I've ever made.

I have band practice with this band today, and of late I have been so excited to go to band practice and play shows (even though breaking cymbals is costing me so much fucking money) and I love that we have come this far and I cant wait for people to hear the new tracks. Probably gonna demo them today...so keen.

I'm back at work too, which is good, I need the money. It just shows me time and time again that it was a good decision not to pursue a career in this line of work though...I'm glad I'm at uni.

Listen to clutch, listen to eyehategod, get a sabbath tattoo and buy a les paul and an orange amp, we gotta make this world a better place.

-aaron

Crowbar - Time Heals Nothing

Crowbar - Time Heals Nothing (1995)


FUUUUUCKKKK...to say this band has been an inspiration to me would be a huuuuuge understatement, this album combined with the majority of their albums have provided constant inspiration for me for the last couple years in all my musical endeavours. I first heard Crowbar probably 6-7 years ago when going through a period of solely listening to Pantera, Metallica and Slayer. Through the Pantera home videos I was introduced to the awesomeness of Crowbar. Though this wasn't the first Crowbar album I heard it has definitely become one of my all time favourite albums. Being that this was Crowbars 3rd album, it really shows that they had time to grow as a band in song writing and arrangements since their first album that came out in 1991.

To me this album draws a lot of influence from Crowbar's more hardcore/crossover influences such as Carnivore and Cro Mags, in regards to how the riffs are structured and the use of a lot of half-time tempo shifts to emphasise the groove in a riff. This album holds what I consider to be some of the heaviest riffs ever recorded, staying true to their original promise of "tune low, play slow". Amongst these more hardcore/crossover inspired tracks, there are definitely the fair share of slower, doomy, more depressing tracks as well. The guitar tone on this album is just so sludgey and Kirk Windstein's voice is awesome as well, this is also the last release on which drummer Craig Nunenmacher would appear on before joining Zakk Wylde in BLS. Stand out tracks for me include, 'The Only Factor', 'Leave it Behind', 'Lack of Tolerance' and 'No More can We Crawl'. I recommend this album very highly for any fan of slow heavy music and hardcore/doom crossover stuff. This is definitely one of my personal favourite albums and I could not stress enough how good it is.

-------------------------------------------

I slept for 12 hours last night, it was awesome. I have band practice today with a yet unnamed band with my mates dean and nate, im really keen for this thing to get moving as its the music that I would love to see live in Canberra more often.

Pad went to the NA last show last night and I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't go as I really liked that band and their last album was so good, oh well sucks to be me I guess. I also have little to no money which is killing me but I cannot wait for my new drumkit to come as it will finally give me the drum sound that I want Slowburn to have.

Cruisy day, keen as, more soon.

-aaron

Hard Luck - Dead End

Hard Luck - Dead End (2007)


I know some would find it stupid for me to talk about my friends and band mates old bands album, but I just couldn't resist talking about this album. The first time I saw Hard Luck was a little over 2 years ago and to be totally honest at the time I wasn't too keen on them. However after maybe 2 more times of seeing them I was hooked. I was just floored by how catchy the riffs were and how flat out the faster 'thrashier' bits were. After playing numerous shows with Hard Luck and becoming friends with them they started talking about this album they were going to record and instantly I was keenly awaiting its release. As soon as the album did arrive I was so pleased with it, it was everything I was hoping for as a continuation from their previous songs. Fast, thrashy, punk hardcore songs with an almost surfy groove to them, amazing.

The riffs on this album are ones you can never get out of your head and the "famous" bass tone is just awesome for these songs. My personal favourite tracks include, 'Your Fate', 'To The Test', 'Work or Jerk' and 'Lost'. Being friends with these guys definitely fueled a lot of my love for the band, but regardless this album is killer. I'm so stoked that I got to see them as many times as I did and got to play with them as many times as I did as well. It sucks that they had to break up but check out Pressures On from QLD and Slowburn(self promo I know) for the dudes current efforts.

----------------------------------------------

I went to trackside today, so many lame people in such a small place, bad weather for an outdoor show, Carpathian were cool and their nice dudes to boot and I saw a whole bunch of people from high school drunk.

I'm now going to spend my night listening to Crowbar and hanging out on my own...may watch a Sabbath dvd...may just enjoy the fact that Ive got no uni for 3 months and don't start back at work until tuesday.

I'm stoked as well at the fact that I have made a whole bunch of new friends recently that are all awesome people. Life is going pretty well.

-aaron

Witchcraft - Witchcraft

Witchcraft - Witchcraft (2004)


I first heard about Witchcraft at the beginning of last year when just lurking the internet looking for bands that might interest me and I came across these guys. For me this is their stand out album, it has so many catchy bluesy riffs and is a very good album to just sit back and chill out too. It reminds me heaps of the more 'relaxed' sabbath songs I guess you could say.

Upon first listening to this album I'm sure many people like myself will find it very shocking that this was recorded in 2004. The main reason for this aside from the 70s stoner doom songwriting is that it is recorded as a 70s doom album would have been recorded. Analogue and with a lot of passion and feel that seems to lack in many modern recordings. Every time I hear this record it just makes me feel so refreshed that people still have a passion for the original and sometimes superior way of writing and recording music. Stand out tracks for myself include, 'I Want You to Know', 'Witchcraft', 'No Angel or Demon' and the killer 'Her Sisters They Were Weak'.

Last year I got the privilege of seeing Witchcraft live in a small bar in London while on holidays there. It was truly one of the most inspiring experiences I have ever had as a musician, incredible guitarists, incredible drummer and amazing singer. If anyone ever gets the chance to see this band live I highly recommend you do. So in short, this is an amazing album for all fans of 70s rock/stoner/doom and is probably one of the closest things you'll find to those classic 'relaxed' sabbath songs.

-------------------------------------

On a personal note, I have two more days of prac teaching before I finish my first year of Uni. I'm excited that I finally bit the bullet and decided on a career path for myself that I am truly enjoying. However I can't wait to have 3 months off, with no exams, assignments or class work to worry about.

Its only gonna get harder from here though. I'm going to go make a killer pasta and listen to this album some more.

-aaron

First Post & Bongzilla: Gateway

I know alot of people say right off the bat "ive always hated these things" in their first post on a blog, and to be totally honest I was just about to type that too. However I thought about it and I dont hate them, I just dont like alot of what I see on them.

I decided to use this as a place to recommend albums for people to check out and talk about the goings on of my life. I seem to think for some reason that by doing this I can show some people albums that I love that they may not have heard and that they might like too.

Here goes nothing,

Bongzilla - Gateway (2002)


The first time I heard this band was probably around 4 years ago and straight away I thought...FUCK, this is amazing...at the time pretty much everything I was listening to was either ridiculously technical death metal or your standard black metal bands. I was exposed to a handful of bands like Eyehategod, Sleep, Sourvein, Weedeater, Buzzoven etc. and this happened to be one of the discs that was shown to me as well and instantly fell in love with the clear worship of the blues, marijuana, tuning low and playing slow.

This album is filled with fuzzed out riffs, throat ripping vocals, slow as fuck blues scales and a whole lot of samples about the bands illicit substance of choice. From the first track 'Greenthumb' until the final track 'Hashdealer' this is a great album to sit back to and appreciate the finer elements of the sludge metal genre, there are too many great riffs to mention and too many samples to even quote. If you are even remotely into sludge I highly recommend you give this album a listen.

In other news, Slowburn finished off another song last night that I am immensely happy with and is helping shape what will eventually be an album into something that I know I will be really proud of. I cant wait to start showing people these songs as I feel they are the finest representation of us as a band and to put it simply blow the old songs out of the water.

more soon,

-aaron