Graves At Sea is one of the greatest American Heavy bands to exist, their powerful brand of Rock music is better known as DOOM, a sub-genre of Metal that is built off the emphasis of Crushing Heaviness and Dirty Rock’n’Roll. Imagine your favorite Black Sabbath record but blown out with a lot more distortion, drug grooves and morbidly deranged vocals and you’ll begin to see the excellent potential of this incredible genre.
A few friends and I all went to the last concert they played in SF at Slims in 08′. We missed the opening act that evening and came in during the first half of Grey, a trio of Witches from the Pacific Northwest that played some seriously Heavy music. When Graves At Sea took the stage that evening, I was so pumped. Nick’s Guitar tone was devastatingly heavy that evening. They had just went through a few lineup changes and Chiyo(Noothgrush) was filling in on drums for them and Miguel(Sourvein) was playing bass. As the story goes, they were scheduled to tour Japan with Corrupted but at the time didn’t feel 100% sure on touring and the promoters told them they couldn’t back out of the tour or they’d be sued. The only way they could get out of their touring obligations was to break up the band. That fucking sucks and is a shitty spot to be in, anyway – they decided to just put the project to rest. Nathan(Vocalist) joined Laudanum, and Nick Phit(Guitarist) moved to Oregon and joined Atriarch. Over the years, people have been hounding them to get back together and to bring back the crushing…This year they finally did and played Oakland, California and I was there to capture it. You’ll get a look into the progression of the band as they played a few new songs as well as a few of their classic tunes.
Up next, I have a preview track of the new Swamp Witch record, “Gnosis”. Pre-orders are available from Anti-Matter Recordsd if you are interested(click). This is the title track, “Gnosis”, played at 33rpm for Extra Heaviness. This is a recording of the actual first spin of the record at 33, it’s intended to be played at 45. These records are housed in a tip-on style, single sleeve jacket printed from Stoughton Printing Company, with black dust sleeves, along with a two button set that’s housed in a black zip lock bag, a poster, and a download card printed on 32 lb. metallic paper to redeem the entire recording which also includes the “Chopped & Doomed” remix version courtesy of DJ Dreemz as an added bonus. Artwork and layout was executed by Jacob R., with collaborative help from photographer Megan Brim and Steven Wilson (Black Uroborus Illustrations). 401 copies on swamp green vinyl, 99 copies on “cosmic splatter” (transparent green & white) vinyl. If you get baked, I recommend getting baked before listening.
I first heard about the next band a few years ago from an Italian Heavy Metal music journalist(Mari) who mentioned them in an early doommantia review on Swamp. I searched for their music and was pleasantly surprised with pure heaviness. Their s/t LP has been sold out for awhile but if you search yt you can find a few songs that showcase the vile tones that this band is able to conjure. Im stoked to present them to you as they don’t tour often and footage of them is almost non-existent online, here’s a look into another powerful American Doom Band.
Hell(Salem) is a Heavy Doom project from the Pacific Northwest. It started as a One Man Project that quickly morphed into something larger. Integral contributors of the Cascadian Scene helped bring this project to life by becoming session musicians and guests for their live incarnations. Some current and former members of Hell(Live) have been involved in Leech, Mania, Vault Dweller, Elu of the Nine, Ancestortooth, & Velnias. Hell has a serious online following and their records all seem to hold a great deal of value. Recently they were given the opportunity to be featured on the label Pesanta Urfolk, which is a label that specializes in attention to detail and high quality releases. Hell “II” released by P.U. is a double LP with 3 sides and an incredible etching on Side IV of a radical black/red opaque record that gleams when held up to the light. They’ve been sold out online for quite sometime but the band has a few left available to purchase while they tour, I got one and look forward to giving it a spin when I get a proper player hooked up. This live incarnation of the band was heavy as fuck. I definitely recommend checking out this band if you are in need of something heavier.
Drought from Santa Fe, New Mexico is another example of the developing and blossoming American Doom community that is playing a new breed of sonic hypnosis. This was my first Drought live experience. Their sound is powerful and bleak Doom. Definitely into this, and looking forward to getting my hands on some of their physical releases, as well as the next time I get to check these folks out live.
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Thanks for checking out this edition of The Heavy Hour.
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