#progressive doom

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Album Art by Steven Yoyada

One of the most impressive release years on record was 2018, when all the big dogs of doom dropped new albums. It was a tough year for a fledgling band to make its big splash, but somehow APE VERMIN made us all turn around and take notice, birthing a massive full-length debut 'Sonic Monolith' (2018) -- still a favorite among doomers. Now, we herald the return of the North Carolina heavyweights with an extended play record, 'Arctic Noise' (2021).

Having already crossed the 2-3 year threshold that seems to either make or break many a promising band, Ape Vermin seem here to stay as they near a half-decade together. Originating in 2017, Brett Lee (guitar, vox), William Deal (bass), and Charlie Burleson (drums) dub their style progressive doom. Through firmly grounded to the storied tradition of deep, reverberating doom, these guys are explorers who like ancient man simply are searching for new horizons.

“Our records are stepping stones for us,” frontman Brett Lee states. “We put our heart and soul into them and where Sonic Monolith had a very drone-type feel with an avalanche of groove, this new EP is a little more over the edge, and more melodic at times. We wanted this EP to represent the celebration of echo, death, and rebirth.”

Based in the small town of Valdese with barely 5,000 souls to speak of and nestled near the Catawba River 'neath the looming mountains, Ape Vermin have developed a club weilding style that's also surprisingly spiritual. Their bio depicts their artful style as comp[ose of "juddering riffs, thundering drums and otherworldly concepts that underpin the sheer mania of their music, along with hypnotic riffs and nimble fretwork" which gives"genuine virtuosity to the sonic vistas they create." That, my beloved Doomers & Stoners, I can firmly endorse.

And now to the record before us. We first encounter on Arctic Noise a song called "Megaliths Of Echo." Warping pedal effects and feedback are interrupted by a declamatory guitar lead accented by bass and drums, establishing our main theme. If you listen carefully, a story is being told in the music alone. Chugging riffage erupts with a stampede of rhythm bringing us caveman-like grunting, "Arctic Drone! Asteroid Explode! Shadow! Behold! Echo! Unfold! Astral Fate, Colossus Awake!"

Something momentus has happened, and suddenly the mood shifts down to a Cathedralesque riff that reminds me of that chilling moment on "Tower of Silence" when Lee Dorian announced, "The circle of time has stopped...sun no longer shines." And we're but five minutes into this gigantic near 17 minute slab of ice core.

Fire in the arctic! To celebrate this guilt. We've been surrounded, By the ice! We've killed the martyr, to set free this realm. We've been surrounded, By the ice!

Fire in the arctic! We've been surrounded! We've killed the martyr! The stone has fallen!

It's clear that someone's doom has come. For a moment, you can see it in your mind's eye, perhaps a churning in the gut, as the Neanderthal DNA still abiding inside has a sudden flashback to this momentous day in prehistory. What is happening? No one knows. Confusion abounds. All one can do is stand, watch in awe, and contemplate their fate.

We fade in the end, You've been holding the earth, We've been mining the sun, You will fade in the end.

I talked last night to frontman Brett Lee, who shared: "These songs were written during an intense emotional period." You can see the lyrics both describing some long ago fantastic calamity and also doubling as a metaphor for the bewilderment that comes with change and uncertainty, which all of us know far too well in recent days due to pandemic pandemonium.

Open the door, To find reason to kill, Locked up inside, For 10,000 years.

Something is encased in ice, and thawing. An ancient spirit lies within with the raw instinct for survival. It grabs us in our weakest moments and shouts, "Live, god damn, you, live!" The emotion laden writhing of the axeman seems to stir up such sentiment as I listen. Then a reminder of my own mortality.

We fade in the end, We echo.

We have such a short time to live. Our time is now. Let's attack it with the same uncouth gusto of our forebears, who struggled to survive in the ice and snow. The words of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" comes to mind in these closing minutes:

We come from the land of the ice and snow From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow The hammer of the gods Will drive our ships to new lands To fight the horde, sing and cry Valhalla, I am coming

Ancient Ruin takes the stage next, with a Near Eastern sounding motif with an attractive hook accompanied by tribal beat and voices singing in Forming The Void like harmony, "Orion." Following this is a vicious drum dominant slog and once again, we hear from our gruff caveman, who exclaims:

Fading out, Cosmic temple Riding out of this hell fear thy brother, meet thy maker Feel the darkness in my soul.

It's clear a religious ritual of some sort is underway, perhaps in response to the inexplicable disaster of the opening number.

We finish our adventure with the namesake track, Arctic Noise, which could very well serve as a Part B to the previous song. The riffage here seems more curious and wandering. A tale is told 'round a cave sheltered camp fire as cold, vicious winds blow about.

Arctic samurai, Astral vision May the arc of life BURN! Ancient avalanche echo All hail noise

I am the wretch I am the fiend Out of the void and in the machine I am the failure I am the one Out of the rapture and into the sun.

A searing solo breaks through that reminded me of one we'd hear on the first High on Fire record, only it begins feeling kind of wobbly and wounded, as if in pain. It quickly becomes seized by adrenaline and expresses itself in a confident, warm-blooded tone. I haven't said enough good things about the drumming so far, but it really shines in the second half of this song, and of course William Deal's basswork is as hearty as ever. The song ends on a cliffhanger, as if to say: "To be continued."

"I leave a lot of imagination in the lyrics," Brett told me, but dispels any notion that this is thematically linked to their debut LP, 'Sonic Monolith' (2021). He ended our conversation with an intriguing footnote: "Although deep in the lyrics in the debut album and also this E.P may you unlock what is to come next!"

Next did you say? That's something to look forward to, for damn sure! What better time than now to become a fan of Ape Vermin and revel in their dirty, gritty doom and fuzz-loaded stoner vibe!

I would be remiss were I to compliment the extraordinary album art by Steven Yoyada (who also penned the remarkable cover for our recent Doomed & Stoned in Denver compilation). Gaze upon this moment frozen in fantasy and you'll discover that it, too, has captured something of the record's soul.

Arctic Noise by Ape Vermin will be officially see the light of day on May 7th via Koloss Records (pre-order here). Fans of Conan, High on Fire, and Mastodon are you listening? Good, because Doomed & Stoned is rocking this mother in its entirety today.

Give ear...

Arctic Noise by APE VERMIN

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Arduini/Balich “After All (The Dead)” from “Dawn of Ages” (2017)

Taken from Black Sabbath’s “Dehumanizer” (1992)

A collection of Black Sabbath cover songs running the gamut from Easy Listening and Synth Pop to Death and Black Metal and everything in between. Some are bad. Real bad. Others are truly excellent. Have a listen and be the judge.

A new Black Sabbath cover track posted daily!

Be sure to visit us at blacksabbathcoversproject.com

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Artwork by Arjen Kunnen

Progressive doom meets dark rock and folk on the new album 'Gratitude' (2023) by Gothenburg's OCKRA. It would, of course, be tedious (if not impossible) to trace back the various strands of influence on the songs before us. As I stated in my review of their EP, 'Infinite Patterns' (2020):

It’s a bit tricky to draw a direct comparison between OCKRA and other acts. After all, it’s not often we hear a band attempt blending progressive rock with doom metal!

The name Ockra is not, as I briefly assumed, a reference to "okra" (that dreaded nemesis of my childhood, along with brussel sprouts), but rather "ocher" in the Swedish tongue. Ocher, that is, the color and substance of earth. Thus it is no surprise to find that Ockra's songs deal with earthly matters of the here-and-now, leading off with the track "Introspection," which preludes such songs as "Acceptance," "Tage Wie Dieser" ("Days Like This"), and "Tree I Planted." This is music that's meant to be intensely relatable.

"Weightless Again" starts as a straight-up garage rocker that features robust drumming from Jonas Nyström, bouncing about joyfully amidst stirring vocal harmonies and traditional doom riffage. The piece slows up and gets misty, with an aura of sadness at about three-minutes. I praised Cruthu for capturing a similar spirit on 'The Angle of Eternity' (2017), which takes a folk-like approach to writing doom. As the song crescendos, confidence rises, and we return to the peppiness of the beginning, but the atmosphere is still bittersweet, and the chorus remains psychologically piercing. The vibe is "things will get better, just keep hanging on" -- or, to quote the song, you'll be weightless again.

"Tree I Planted" is singer-songwriter fare that hints at the old country and western tradition. If you like the songs that Alice in Chains singer Jerry Cantrell writes, this one is a cinch. Alex Spielhaupter's vocals are earnest, with a serious metallic edge, and get bluesy at times, backed by guest vocalist Stefanie Spielhaupter.

Fourth track "Acceptance" is bound to find its way onto a "Metal Classics" playlist one of these days. From the opening riff on, guitarist Erik Björnlinger had me hooked. The vocals are dark like Pentagram, moody like Goodeye, producing a bonafide earworm of a chorus. The song is thoughtfully structured, took, with a bridge of overlapping voices that brings The Byrds to mind.

The folk influence really shines through on the next track, "We, Who Didn't Know." What might have found life as a two-minute interlude, gets fleshed out into a full-fledged seven-minute song. After a soft vocal introduction (which references "Weightless Again"), the balance shifts to a largely instrumental portion. The whole feel for me was one of daisy-lit hills, until the band goes full metallic at the four-minute mark. Again, Ockra goes for grand, with a crescendo and a full-on rush of soundwaves launching an impassioned chorus, finishing with the solitary note of the guitar.

"Imorgon Här" ("Tomorrow Here") follows, and while the title is in Swedish, the lyrics are still in English. The song is has got an upbeat, bluesy tempo (not unlike Graveyard), but the strength of Ockra's harmonic singing distinguishes them here in a way that is simply magical.

"Tage Wie Dieser" ("Days Like This") is sung entirely in Swedish. Personally, I love when bands include a song or two in their native tongue. If you approach vocals as just another instrument in the band (rather than someone telling you how to think or feel about the song), you may find you appreciate the experience all the more. Here the vocal harmonies are consoling and heavenly.

Suffice it to say, there were things that grabbed me upon first listen (namely "Acceptance"), but the second spin turned out to be even more meaningful, probably because the material was more familiar and I could lean into the songs more comfortably.

Look for Ockra's Gratitude on Friday, May 26th, releasing digitally and on compact disc on Argonauta Records (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Young Hunter, Dunbarrow, and Asteroid.

Give ear...

LISTEN: Ockra - 'Gratitude' (2023)

SOME BUZZ

The band OCKRA arose in early 2018 in Gothenburg from what was left of the stoner doom band Sulphur Dreams. With a strong desire to stretch musical barriers away from what is known as classic stoner or doom metal, the trio around Jonas Nyström, Erik Björnlinger and Alex Spielhaupter set out to develop their songwriting skills and find their own style under the new name OCKRA. The band has a wide range of influences from metal to folk, americana and jazz.

The first EP with four songs was self-recorded in a 'DIY' spirit at the home studio in Onsala during spring/summer 2019 (with guest singer Ammy from EPA/Lastkaj14) and was released in March 2020 via Argonauta Records a week before the first lockdown put everything on hold.

The songs were well received by the media and the reviews in online and print magazines turned out very positive. As an example, the EP got 12 out 15 points in Germany's largest print magazine for extreme metal "Legacy."

Gratitude by OCKRA

 Infinite Patterns by OCKRA

During the summer of 2021, the trio went out to the little village Hesedorf near Hamburg to record their debut album 'Gratitude' together with Peter Voigtmann (The Ocean Collective, Heads.) at his studio "Die Mühle" (the mill).

The calm environment and the nature around made it possible to go into a state of creative isolation. That may have had an impact on the music, which now has more elements of singer-songwriter and folk music.

The lyrics have been written in the shade of the pandemic and severe illnesses amongst close friends and family members in this period. Writing these very personal lyrics has been some kind of therapeutic and despite the severeness of the topics they are meant to provide a glimpse of hope.

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