Hour Of 13 - Black Magick Rites (CD Review)

Hour Of 13 Black Magick Rites

01. His Majesty Of The Wood

02. Return from the Grave

03. House of Death

04. Black Magick Rites

05. Within the Pentagram

06. Harvest Night

07. The Mystical Hall of Dreams

Chad Davis (Vocals, All Instruments)

For the best part of two decades American doom band Hour Of 13 have made quite an impact under the careful watch of mainman Chad Davis.

Along the way and over the course of three albums and numerous EPs, HOUR OF 13 have built a formidable discography that's amassed a fanatic following awaiting each offering Davis and his rotating cast of cohorts creates.

This is the first new recordings in over eight years, Black Magick Rites was available digitally on November 1st, 2020 for only 24 hours. Just as uniquely, Black Magick Rites also marks the first album where Davis handles not only all instruments, but also all vocals. 

 From the off, this is a superb album, none of the usual clichés of twenty minute dirges and stereotypical "Occult" lyrics.

That this album was produced by one (very talented) man is astounding.

Amazing vocals, great guitar playing, solid drumming brilliantly mixed together, cannot fault this in anyway, shape or form.

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of: Electric Wizard, Witchfinder General, Witchfynde, Angelwitch, Cathedral

ZOË - Back Into The Light (CD Review)

ZOË Back Into The Light

01.Back Into The Light

02.Voices

03.Down In A Hole

04.In Praise Of Laziness

05.Go Like A Bomb

06.By Your Side

07.White Trash

08.Wild Wild City

09.Band Of Brothers

10.Cut Class

Fred Barroit (Vocals, Guitar)

Aldo Ségard (Guitar)

Holy Capitaine (Drums)

Clem Burette (Bass)

French band 'ZOE' return after a five year break and with the addition of a new bassist.

They mix Rock N Roll with 70's hard rock and a straight forward attitude that has seen them tour all over Europe and release three albums.

What we have here is ten solid tracks of no nonsence hard rock, a couple of tracks 'Down In A Hole' and 'By Your Side' stick out as above average rockers, great guitar playing backed by solid bass and drums.

'Band Of Brothers' is a tribute to Lemmy and manages to avoid sounding like Motorhead.

Rating 7/10

For Fans Of: Viking Skull, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Monster Magnet

LM Cooke - Sun Song (Bandcamp Download Review)

LM Cooke - Sun Song (Bandcamp Download Review)

01. Sun Song (Demo)

LM Cooke (Vocals/Keyboards)

It has been a long time since we have heard from 'LM', too long in fact.

'Sun Song' may just be a mere demo, but it shows amazing progress since 2017s debut album 'Nursey Rhymes for the Apocalypse'.

Inspired by, well in LM's words "This is probably not a traditional sun or summer song in any way, shape or form. It came to me one evening at rush hour in Euston Station while waiting for a train home, but I don't think it reflects any of the bustle that surrounded me at the time."

Such a simple basic rhythm builds the tension, added to that a superb double tracking vocal, multi layered backing vocals, this is a slow and brooding example of well crafted Neo-Folk with some very dark lyrics, oh the sun may be bright yet somehow the line "Let it burn" takes on a different meaning.

I look forward to more demos and hopefully a full album in the near future.

Rating 8/10

For Fans Of: Galley Beggar, Comus, Lisa Gerrard, Alison Cotton, The Trees, Helga Pogatschar

Download Free Song From Bandcamp Here

 

Bladder Flask ‎– One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling (1981)

Bladder Flask ‎– One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling

Orgel Fesper Music AP162

1981

01.It Takes A Bliss

02.Musical Behind Head

Just 500 copies of this album were made, I managed to get my copy from the good old Record & Tape Exchange in Camden back in 1983, wondered what the hell I had brought when I eventually got around to playing it. 

I was drawn to the record based soley on the Pre-Raphelite picture on the label, musically it reminded me of The Residents with its weird mix of sound collage and experimental electronics.

It seems the band were essentially two brothers; Richard and Phillip Rupenus, it has since emerged that other contributions came from Nigel Jacklin (Alien Brains), Sean Breadin and John Mylotte both from the band 'Funeral Danceparty'.

The band quickly vanished, perhaps the world was not ready for their experiments in sound, yet in 2019 the name started to appear again with Fluxxus duo 'Kommissar Hjuler Und Frau' and only recently a brand new 7" single called 'I am as I Have Spoken', the world finally came to accept this for of music as art or is it art as music, either way a fantastic record.

 128Download HERE

Rocking Corpses - Death Blues (CD Review)

Track Listing:

01. There Will Be Death (intro)

02. Body

03. Buried

04. As High as You Can Get

05. Rocking Corpses Part II

06. Derailed

07. Drinking With the Dead

08. Another Day in Casket

09. Losing Day

10. Necrophilove

11. Death is Something to Die for

12. War for Doom

Leper Laze (Vocals)

Tony Decay (Guitar, Dirty Vocals)

Pestilence Pete (Guitar)

Maggot Mike (Bass)

Tom Bones (Drums)

Finlands 'Rocking Corpses' were born at the end of 2007 out of Tony's passion for all things horror, death metal, blues, injected with some very dark humour. Some months later Laze got also excited about the idea and joined the project on vocals. Eventually, in 2009 two demo songs were recorded and finally in 2011 the first full album "Rock 'n' Rott" was finished and released a year later.  

By 2017 Mike and Pete had their own project called Grit going on and needed a guitarist and a vocalist. Tony and Laze joined and very soon realized that the feel of Grit was very similar with Rocking Corpses and the band were "re-animated".

Collaboration of writing new songs was only held back by constant 'Spinal Tap-esque' problems with drummers, finally the issue was resolved and the band was complete.

Once we get passed the intro the rockin fun starts, great riffs epic death metal vocals which are shared with a Danzig style clean vocal, awesome mix of Death and Rock 'N' Roll.

The blues influence is present with 'Buried', one of those great riffs that just bounce along.

After another full on on rocker, comes 'Rocking Corpses II', very much in the Danzig area again, solid riffs, fun lyrics and a killer guitar solo.

'Drinking With The Dead' an acoustic C&W tune! Followed by another? well sort of because the Ghost of Johnny Cash is very much coming through my speakers and then the song explodes to some seriously heavy riffing!

We end with some full on Thrash/Speed Metal and 'War For Doom' completes a very enjoyable album with clever mix of styles and vocal work.

 Rating 9/10

For Fans Of: Toxic Holocaust, Matron, Municiple Waste, Danzig, Motorhead

Alain Kremski & Pavel Blatny – Paysages Métaphysiques / Dix Minutes 30 (1973)

Alain Kremski & Pavel Blatny – Paysages Métaphysiques / Dix Minutes 30

Musique Pour L'Image – MPI/LP 544

1973

01.Alain Kremski – Attirances

02.Alain Kremski – Granit

03.Alain Kremski – Le Cri

04.Alain Kremski – Terre Vibrante

05.Alain Kremski – Les Djinns

06.Alain Kremski – Trois Spirales

07.Alain Kremski – Transparence

08.Alain Kremski – Pulsations

09.Alain Kremski – Les Mouches Géantes

10.Alain Kremski – Destin

11.Alain Kremski – En Filigrane

12.Pavel Blatny – Dix Minutes 30

 Musique Pour L'Image was a library music label set up in 1967 by jazz composer Robert Viger. 

This albums music destined no doubt for films and television is one of the more interesting with a single contribution from Czech composer and musicologist Pavel Blatny providing ten wonderful minutes for a piece that was perhaps the thirty as eluded to in the title.At times the drumming is of near death metal speeds!

The rest of the album is comprised of pieces by Alain Petitgirard known as Alain Kremski, a French musician and composer of contemporary music, famed for his use of Asian instruments and creations using Tibetan bowls.

Overall a great album of abstract modern classical music that makes for disturbing listening.

128Download Here

Various Artists - New Wave From The Heart (Doncaster Punk 1979)

Various Artists - New Wave From The Heart

Planet Records PR003

1979.

Track Listing:

01. The Squad – Suicide

02. The Diks – Only You Can Choose

03. The Subliminal Cuts – They Don't Care

04. Eyes At Risk – Night Life

05. Negatives – Metallic Thread Shirt

06. The Prams – Indigestion

07. Vice Squad – Prison Girls

08. Negatives – Don't Say Goodbye

09. The Prams – Night Fever

10. Vice Squad – Words And Pictures

11. The Squad – Walking Through The City

12. The Diks – Out On The Game

13. The Subliminal Cuts – Masque Of The Red Death

14. Eyes At Risk – Sane Problems 

 Planet was a record label started here in Doncaster by David Moffitt in 1978.

It was a short lived lable producing one "rock" album by 'Pagan Bo' a "Folk" album by Charlie Webster and a "Punk" album.

Legend tells that 1000 copies were pressed, yet 200 copies were sold. Eventually in 1990 the rest of the albums were taken to the local dump!

Doncaster a fine heritage for rock music from John McLaughlin (Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc) to Lady June (Gong, Brian Eno, Vivian Stanshall, etc) But it is Punk that Doncaster is well known for. The Sex Pistols played at the Outlook club in september 1976 and as 'Tax Exiles' played an infamous show on 24.08.77 on the SPOTS tour. A good year for Punk in Doncaster as The Ramones, Adverts, Damned, Talking Heads, Sham 69 and a host of other well known names. There was even a local fanzine called 'The Lookout'.

Local band Vice Squad (NOT the Beki Bondage band) would headline the venue in March 78, also in 78 The Diks formed and had a small degree of success including a support slot for The Adverts and another band on this album The Negatives.

128Download Here