Sea Bastard – Great Barrier Riff

Sea Bastard are four dudes from Brighton (UK) who share their love for nasty, crusty sludge/doom metal with the world in the form of this 3 track demo entitled “Great Barrier Riff”. The band formed in July 2011 from the ashes of two recently deceased Brighton based doom metal bands; Jovian and Funeral Hag (who you should also check out).

The overall sound is raw and grinding, with raspy vocals present throughout. It’s dark, bleak and pretty unrelenting! Just how we like it. As a demo it does the business and gives the listener enough information to come up with an answer to the question “Do I need Sea Bastard in my life?”. Well I would say you do. Download it for free or pay as much as you like…links below.

Sea Bastard Bandcamp

Sea Bastard on Facebook

Thorun – Chorus Of Giants EP

New EP released via Bandcamp by the Welsh doom/stoner/rock Instrumentalists THORUN. You can listen to the EP in its entirety here: BANDCAMP 

Check out their FACEBOOK PAGE or WEBSITE for more info.

Nero Order – The Tower

Nero Order have been around for some time now, but they’ve chosen to stay silent…until now!

Some call them avant-metal alchemists, others “Progressive Doom”, I prefer to think of them as a hulking machine bent on destroying your preconceived ideas of what slow metal can sound like. After a number of listens the picture becomes clear, the music is mix of left field sludge/post-metal (like that of Mouth Of The Architect and Mare) and the darker world of avant-doom. The riffs are easy to take in but the arrangements are more complex, with track lengths that vary between 9 and 17 minuets. The entire album was recorded using old school methods and is devoid of any computer trickery or Pro-tool magic. Thus we are presented with the raw sound of Nero Order.

The best way to treat this album is to consider it as one long composition rather then 4 separate songs. For those who are not accustomed to this type of drawn-out sludgy doom it can be hard going and at times it left me wondering where the hell these guys were going. The overall sound is oppressive, huge, dark and carries some serious weight but I can’t help but think that more cohesion and a little consideration for a central theme would have gone a long way in making this a “must have” record for fans of unusual heavy music. This is not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I did! The guitar/bass sounds are massive, the drumming is akin to being slowly beaten with a large metal club and the vocals fly between relentless torture and melodic croon to great effect. Just be prepared to sit down and take it in over a number of sessions.

This is definitely a good release and I would recommend you download it and add it to your collection.  I’m interested to see what they have in store for us next.

Nero Order Website > HERE <

Facebook page > HERE <

Join us on the book of faces

16 Tonnes has a facebook page (yes, it’s true). All new blog posts will also be posted on the 16T wall so you can keep up to date using the least heterosexual and most fashionable media around! Don’t you just love the interweb?

Anyway here is the link > FACEBOOK PAGE < go there, like us and all that shit!

There is also a permanent link on the side bar thatta way —>

LIVE SHOW ALERT! – Loserpalooza

LOSERPALOOZA HALF-DAYER

A half-day festival of Alt, Doom, Sludge, Stoner and Grind Metal. This show is set to kick the shit out of all who attend, miss at your peril.

6 bands – £6 – 6th August 2011

Bands: Atomck + Spider Kitten + Jimmy Rowe + Smiler + Pus + Thorun

Venue: Buffalo Bar, 11 Windsor Place, Cardiff, CF10 3BY

Loserpalooza facebook page > HERE <

A question for you…..

“What’s the most unusual music you’ve ever listened too?”

I’ve been asked this question a few times, so I decided to answer it via my wonderful bloggy blog. Although the bands below would not necessarily be considered as “heavy” or “metal” I would still urge you to take a gander, even if it’s just to satisfy your sick curiosity (remember what happened to the cat?). Here are three of the strangest bands in existence.

Fat Worm Of Error

Beeps, ticks and screwed up guitar sounds, these guys have some serious issues. Their first proper albums were released on one of the leading US weirdo labels: Load Records. Fat Worm Of Error seem to have fallen out of vogue in recent years but they are still one of the most messed up and spazzy sounding bunch of arty-farts around.

Mindflayer

The brain child of Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt) and Matt Brinkman (Forcefield), two of Rhode Island’s underground music monsters.  The band name is a reference to creatures who appear in the Dungeons & Dragons game universe. The music consists of unusual jungle inspired beats and strange sounds created by home made noise boxes and tape players.

Help The Buffalos R Crushin Me

A friend recently posted a link to the free album by HTBRCM on facebook. I downloaded, sat back and decided that I couldn’t take much more. It’s pretty fucked up! In the words of my good friend “like Cassette Boy meats Beefheart meats Morbid Angle meets Gabbamonghem, this is bat-shit mental!”.

Fister / The Lions Daughter Split – And Their Masters Bled For Days

This Split 12″ was released as a limited run of 300 with some very limited glow in the dark copies (that got snapped up at the release show).  They are offering the digital download for free to all those who dare! See download and buy links below.

Fister: Fuzzy, Sabbath inspired proto-doom style heaviness with sparse vocals. Yes you’ve heard it all before but you want to hear it again! 3 monster tracks that set your heads nodding. This is right up my street and had me smiling throughout.

The Lions Daughter: A faster paced and noisier offering altogether. The 4 tracks on offer from these brutes seem to peddle influences from across the spectrum, from black metal to grind and on to hardcore, with a dusting of sludge for good measure. My least favorite of the two bands but they still bring the noise!

You should download this album, free albums of this quality are hard to come by.

Free digital download > HERE <

Buy / more info > HERE <

Weeping Ulcer – Dwelling In Filth

What the band say: Weeping Ulcer are a sludge/experimental/doom band from Dublin. They have been writing and rehearsing original material since the trio formed in June 2010. Inspired by all that’s wrong in the world and a keen sense of ethereal exploration, they blend a multitude of musical influences into their own particular brand of down-tuned, sludgy filth.

16Tonne low down: This is the bands first demo so I wont dwell too much on the production. What I will say is that they sound like a band who need more time to work on existing material. The potential is there but the riffs are somewhat unimaginative;  it all sounds a bit “Doom by numbers”. I do like the fact that each of the three tracks uses a different member for lead vocal duties but this doesn’t really add enough for the songs to impress. It’s not terrible, and we need to remember this is an early version of what Weeping Ulcer could become. With a touch more variation, a better quality recording and a less fizzy (more fuzzy) guitar sound they could come up with something beastly.

You can download the demo for free > HERE <

Facebook page > HERE <

Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel – Soundtrack From A Motion Picture

Yes it’s a bloody long band name and the album art looks like it could be the front cover of the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series but these guys don’t seem to be taking themselves too seriously (in a good way). The Album itself is a lot of fun. Great sounding guitars attack the listener with some pumping stoner cross punk riffs. Little break downs with hand claps and blues inspired lead licks keep a smile on your face until the money shot is delivered and these guys hand you your ass on a plate. One let down; some of these songs sound so much like QOTSA that during track 4 “Chapter II: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold” I actually had to check my playlist to make sure I was still listening to the same album.

If I have to be honest, I would say that during the later tracks the album starts to sound like it’s repeating itself. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy listening to it, I did! Disidentes Los Del Sucio Motel can write and deliver a decent tune with classy riffs and enough twists and turns to keep you engaged. They just need to add a touch more variation to the sound to keep the attention throughout.

Check out their website > HERE < (it is in French)

Myspace page > HERE <

3 of the best (No.3) – YouTube videos

Another collection of 3 great tunes posted up on YouTube

 

Red Fang: Prehistoric Dog

An entertaining video featuring riff-ridden heavy rock. You can always rely on Red Fang.

 

Knut: Neon Guide

A lesson in post-hardcore inspired sludge metal. I’ve seen Knut live and it was bloody breath taking!

 

Buried at Sea: Ghosts

A rare live video of one of the heaviest bands in the universe. This is the soundtrack to the end of the world.