Black Claw - Black Claw EP (CD Review)

01.Nothing
02.Factual Accusations
03.Broken Hands
04.Find The End
05.Horrible Days

Reverend Black Claw (All Instruments/Vocals)

Formed in 2013 playing primitive and angry Death Roots envisioned in the desolate forests of the Canadian Wilderness.
Coming from a black metal background and now playing country music, Chris said; "I am the only member of the band. A few different people have been on the recording but 90% of it is just me.
Live performance wise there are a few people I play with some times but they are just session musicians".

Well as i was expecting C&W, i was surprised by 'Nothing' which has a simple acoustic riff, very dark and agressive vocal and some nice backing vocals, towards the end is some very gothic sounding keyboard and vocal effects.


'Factual Accusations' gives us more in the style of modern C&W, but there are hints of rockabilly and goth as well, the gruff vocal style cuts through the music to hold your attention and again some great backing vocals.

The tempo and delivery of 'Broken Hands' reminds me of Gogol Bordello, with this great ethnic/folk song.

Now we come to 'Find The End', it begs the question can dark gothic vocals and a banjo make for a a dark, moody and quite stunning song? The answer is yes, this is by far the ebst song so far, a perfect mix of styles that simply should not work.

Finally some more traditional "hillbilly" style with 'Horrible Days', but its the "Hail, Hail, Hail" backing vocals and kick ass guitar solo that turn this into something quite unique.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Buck Satan, Bourbon Crow, Hank III, Gogol Bordello

King Dude - Fear (CD Review)

01.Open The Door
02.Fear Is All You Know
03.Maria
04.Devil Eyes
05.Cloven Hooves (Of Fear)
06.Demon Caller Number 9
07.Bloody Mirror
08.Lay Down In Bedlam
09.Bottomless Pit
10.Never Run
11.Miss September
12.Empty House
13.Watching Over You

TJ Cowgill (Vocals/Guitar/Field Recordings)
Joey D' Auria (Drums)

Contributing Musicians:
Bill Rieflin (Backing vocals/Piano/Organ/Bass)
Don Gunn (Backing vocals)
Brianna Atwell (Violin)
Emily Denton (Vocals on "Maria")
Vanessa Dandurand (Vocals on "Devil Eyes")

Pulling together the biblical sound and isolation of the bygone days of revelation with an atmosphere filled with hope and salvation, KING DUDE has woven his own unique brand of purely American music. He brandishes many varied influences in his songwriting... Everything from British Folk, Americana, Country and Blues can be heard in his songs. The resulting songs are much more of a modern day hymn then your average pop song.

Reverent as it is prophetic and stark, King Dude's latest album, entitled Fear, was produced by the legendary Bill Rieflin (Ministry, Swans, Pigface etc).

With Fear, TJ set out to make "the most horrifying music I could", so this one sounds intresting.......

The first track is basically a Ministry sounding intro and then the album gets going with 'Fear Is All You Know', quite a goth sounding track to my old ears, kinda like Bauhaus playing with Nick Cave via Captain Beefheart, really good, atmospheric and moody.

The style changes for 'Maria' which is very reminiscent of a down beat country take on Unchained melody, some haunting backing vocals give this a melancholic feel.

Yet another change of sound for 'Devil Eyes' this is Tom Waits meets Johnny Cash for an upbeat and dark modern country rocker.

Touch of acoustic rock with 'Cloven Hooves', quite a seventies feel to this one, reminded me of early Bowie.

Very weird opening to 'Demon Caller' must be some of that 'Field Recordings' by TJ, song is kinda run of the mill country tinged rock, nothing that special to make it stand out.

Some pure acoustic country blues for 'Bloody Mirror', gets weird towards the end with strange sound effects.

More dark country sounds with 'Lay Down In Bedlam' is followed by 'Bottomless Pitt' has waht i call that sing a long americana sound, dont know what else to say except that maybe if Joan Jett covered it you would get what i mean.

After some country with 'Never Run' we come to 'Miss September' a Lou Reed meets Neil Young (Circa Eldorado album) electric guitar driven downbeat song.

'Empty House' is a bleak ballad that has some simple guitar lines running through and a very simple drum beat, i dunno funeral/folk hybrid?

Back to a happier sound with 'Watching Over You', great backing vocals and some nice violin, a perfect way to end a dark album.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Nick cave, Mark Lanegan