I always thought Sleep was one of those bands that I would just never get to see, like Zeppelin, or the real Guns ‘n’ Roses. The members disbanded in 1995, fed up with the intractability of their label, London Records, which refused to release Dopesmoker, the band’s hour-long stoner metal odyssey of an album — the sort of artistic endeavor that the phrase “magnum opus” was invented to describe.

The members moved on to other projects — guitarist Matt Pike to High on Fire; bassist/vocalist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Haikus to Om. For fans of the doom genre, even for those who had the opportunity to see the band in its heyday, Sleep entered the realm of myth, its progress hastened by a brief lifespan and the mind-bending, uncompromising nature of its final creative act. Exerting a powerful influence from beyond the grave, its specter hung benevolently over future fuzzed-out efforts like a particularly tenacious bong hit. Acolytes were initiated into the cult, their ignorance of the band’s seminal work greeted with innumerable half-exasperated, half-excited shouts of “Duuuuuude!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkFs9_kytAg

Sleep began in the garages of Silicon Valley, lurching out of San Jose with two albums (Volume One and Volume Two) that pre-dated their classic trio line-up. 1992′s Holy Mountain was a triumph of demented Sabbath-worship and St. Vitus-style madness, establishing the band’s burgeoning renown and greasing the wheels for their ultimately unsuccessful deal with London. Combining Pike’s explosive riffing, Cisneros’ hypnotic bass lines and incantatory vocals, and Haikus behind-the-beat stomp, the album was praised to the rafters. A cover of “Snowblind” for an Earache Records Sabbath tribute album won opprobrium from the Prince of Fuckin’ Darkness himself.

Fourteen years after the Sleep’s untimely dissolution, the band were coaxed back onto the stage, proving that there are no longer any certainties when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll resurrection, though Slash and Axl putting their differences aside is probably even less likely than John Bonham rising unbidden from the grave. Two one-off reunion sets at the 2009 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK gave a generation of metal fans hope, and their wildest dreams came true when Cisneros’ announced that the band (with Neurosis‘ Scott Roeder filling in for Haikus) would be playing a slew of U.S. dates throughout September, 2010.

Nearly two decades after the release of Holy Mountain, those days are finally here. Sleep is appearing for two nights at the Regency Ballroom, promising to play their groundbreaking record in its entirety, along with stretches of Dopesmoker. Joined on Sunday, 9/12 by Thrones (solo project of ex-Melvins bassist Joe Preston) and on Monday, 9/13 by fellow Bay natives Saviours and Black Cobra, the legendary trio is poised to further augment the stature of its already towering reputation. Weak eardrums, poorly-constructed foundations, and un-smoked bowls are all in trouble.

Sleep
9/12/2010
w/ Thrones
9/13/2010
w/ Saviours, Black Cobra

Both days 8pm, $21
The Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter St., SF

Check back in this space after the show for a full review, replete with photos!

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Local outfit Floating Goat is bobbing up and down in the metal ocean, somewhere in the vicinity of its tenth anniversary. Usually a fixture of San Francisco’s sweat-stained stages, their raucous jams and distinctive, steer-horned drumset have been absent lately, but with good reason – time not spent onstage has been spent in dark lairs around the Bay, crafting Spawn of Poseidon/Suburban Anxiety, an ambitious new double LP.

The ten-year milestone can be a dubious distinction, especially when a long shelf-life leads to frustration or musical calcification. For Floating Goat, the opposite is true: the songs on the new album represent strides forward in technique, songwriting, and furor, all of which abet the album’s epic scope.

As its title suggests, Spawn of Poseidon falls more fully in the headbanger wheelhouse, hinging on references to metaphysical spooks and an arsenal of snarling, pissed-off riffs. Opener “Get Out of the Way” features vocals that veer surprisingly close to strident hardcore for a band with such well-established stoner rock pedigrees. This iconoclastic ability to blend subgenres in the name of speed surfaces throughout the record.

Next up is the title track, whose thundering tribal toms evoke the ocean god’s tidal fury with traditionalist aplomb, before revving up into a screaming solo. Ominous, vaguely Middle Eastern melodies kick off “Smoke Rising” before giving way into a classic fuzzy shuffle groove. Guitarist Chris Corona’s playing, honed no doubt by a busy schedule (he is also a member of Orb of Confusion and Hazzard’s Cure, among other local projects) sounds better than ever. While he can be justifiably proud of his leadwork, the way he settles into the churning triplets on “Smoke Rising” is particularly satisfying.

Floating Goat – “Spawn of Poseidon”

The rhythm section, comprised of bassist Ian Petitpren and drummer Aaron Barrett, showcase their metal mettle on “The Great Wasteland,” the album’s fourth track. Petitpren’s playing is deep, rumbling, impeccable, and inconspicuous in the way that the best bassists seem to master, and Barrett follows Coronas riffs, fills and trills expertly around the kit, occasionally taking the spotlight himself with a deft roll.

“Entropy Must Be Stopped” and “Caught in the Headlights” round out the first LP, the former beginning with chiming, sustained chords before erupting into uptempo battery. The latter starts with a meditative, almost Mastodon-like lead before embarking on a heavy-handed, mid-tempo groove.

Suburban Anxiety, the second album of the pair, is by far the more formally experimental, consisting of two one-track, multi-part opi. Though the double-LP’s first six tracks deliver a hefty helping of the band doing what they already do well, the second album features more inventive, risky songwriting.

Side One track “The Doldrums/Suburban Anxiety/A New Paradise/The Beast” starts with an eerie, Pink Floyd-style lead which fades away ethereally, replaced by a menacing, methodical riff. After about a minute, the band pauses to make room for Corona’s haranguing vocals, with the line “there must be life beyond this hell/robot or slave/cog in a wheel/it’s always the same day,” encapsulating the themes of anger and alienation that drive the second platter. Eventually, the frustration culminates in an explosion of angry thrash.

“A New Paradise” is built around a driving, 6/8 pattern, which underscores a soaring guitar solo before the low-end chords of “The Beast” re-establish the despondent mood. By the track’s tenth minute, the river has overflowed its banks, and the song ends in an avalanche of toms and shredding.

Side Two begins similarly to its partner, with a pensive, acoustic intro accompanied by swelling ride cymbal rolls and a powerful vocal melody. Barrett builds the drums up march-style on the snare, before settling into a groove in preparation for the monster chords that make up the chorus. “The Year of Drought” dabbles in balladry before a meticulous build-up introduces an epic, downbeat-driven main course, which gathers ten-ton momentum before returning to the intro’s somber sonics, which benefit from Petitpren’s captivating, cello-like bass tone. “The Flood” sounds very much like its title suggests, washing inexorably over the listener with increasing intensity until submersion finally results, in the form of a climactic bit of unison riffing. As this fades, the album closes with melancholy guitar, heard as if from underwater.

Floating Goat’s entire double album spectacular will be available for download soon, and for purchase in hard copy slightly later. Both of these developments will likely be accompanied by live appearances. Check back in this space – and at The Bay Bridged generally – for information as it becomes available, including a more detailed description of the local recording and mastering engineers that worked behind the scenes to bring Spawn of Poseidon/Suburban Anxiety into being.

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Local lushes The Saviours have been gone all summer, conquering Europe like some sort of tatted-up, four-headed George Patton. The band are a remarkable feel-good story for these Ke$haful times, surmounting each successive challenge with enviable ease. Hard to believe it’s been 5 years since Warship (Level Plane Records) first slid out of the drydock.

After a full slate of massive outdoor festivals in the Old World and a late-summer junket on Ozzfest, the hesher quartet will return to the Bay, ten steps closer to being a headbanger household name. An Ozzfest off-date at Slim’s August 10th clashes tragicomically with one of the best metal tickets of all time: the epic Animosity-era Corrosion of Conformity/Goatsnake show at DNA Lounge the same night. 11th st. will be transformed into a whirlpool of leather, hair, beer, and weed.

Most groups would be content to bask in the rewards (chemical or otherwise) of such a jam-packed touring schedule, but Saviours had a different plan: they settled down in Den Haag with producer and psychedelic maven Guy Tavares, steward of the cult Motorwolf label. The band has long espoused a love for old-school recording techniques, and Tavares was able to give them the “16 track, 1″ tape, no punch-ins, edits or automation” experience they craved. Their official blog promises a two-track EP, featuring two versions of the same song — a normal version, and a 21-minute psychedelic alternate freakout fever dream version, which might well hearken back to the doomier sound of the earliest Saviours records. Expect it to accelerate your living.

Saviours – “Acid Hand”

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Music writers are suckers for geography. Tying up groups of bands in neat little localized bows makes for easy copy, with the added benefit that once you pigeonhole a bunch of quasi-related groups — the “Seattle Sound,” say — you have that touchstone to deploy next time you feel like phoning in some cheap comparisons.

Seattle bands are the order of the day today, though the comparisons will hopefully be hewn from finer stuff. Specifically, two Seattle bands that have recently released new records: The Melvins, and Black Breath.

Black Breath – “Children of the Horn”

The traditional route here would be to slap these two groups down side by side and make a bunch of comparisons — to bands they both sound like, or to the way the weather in Seattle (rainy, natch) informs their interpollinated styles. In this case, that’s totally impossible. Though they both fall under the general aegis of metal, and play music that is down-tuned, loud, and heavy, the similarities end there. When you put Black Breath and The Melvins side-by-side, all you see is contrasts.

For one thing, The Melvins are roughly six times older. Formed in the early 80′s, the band is now something of a hard rock institution, weathering a generation of music and still out-rocking many of the bands they influenced. A pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain famously auditioned on guitar, but botched it — a bad case of nerves made him temporarily forget all the songs. Though generally a trio, in 2006 the band absorbed both members of the cult metal duo Big Business, taking the stage with two drummers (right- and left-handed) and a bolstered vocal attack.

Though the music is still built around muscular, inventive drumming and guitarist Buzz Osbourne’s bottom-heavy riffs, the band’s maturation has seen them become increasingly digressive. More and more, they flex their musical muscle during wild excursions into the bizarre and sometimes borderline self-indulgent outer reaches. New release The Bride Screamed Murder features some plutonium-heavy sections that recall the band’s classic material, along with the ever-listenable percussion prowess of drummers Dale Crover and Jared Coady, but it’s hard to wrap your mind around the drill sergeant chanting in “The Water Glass,” the squeaky balloon solo at the end of “Hospital Up,” or the impressionistic “My Generation” cover.

Not that anyone seems to mind. Maybe it’s the fact that this grab-bag songwriting tendency has always been a part of The Melvins’ sound. What’s clear is that the band have earned the right to do whatever they want. Their idiosyncrasy even garnered a recent accolade; the new LP snuck into last week’s Billboard 200 chart in the final, 200th spot.

Black Breath have a much shorter history, but came charging out of the blocks after forming in 2005. Snatched up by the perennially taste-making doom label Southern Lord Records, the band released incendiary EP Razor to Oblivion in 2009, which won critical acclaim from all quarters. They then hunkered down to craft a full-length follow-up.

The Melvins – “The Water Glass”

Taut, speedy, and efficient, the quintet’s music is antithetical to The Melvins’ expansive, versatile approach. Fusing vintage thrash with primal black metal, old-school Swedish death metal, and classic crust punk, the youthful group most closely resemble death legends Entombed, churning out three-to-four minute salvos of snarling, fuzzy invective, boasting hardcore’s intensity and metal’s airtight musicianship.

New album Heavy Breathing rages from back to front, starting with the tremolo-picked statement of purpose that begins “Black Sin (Spit on the Cross)” and continuing full-throttle until the epic midtempo lead that concludes “WeWhoCannotBeNamed.” The production by Converge‘s Kurt Ballou is impeccable, further cementing his bona fides as modern metal’s master of guitar tone.

Listening to the two records back to back, you hear two bands — each immensely talented in their own way — at opposite ends of the career spectrum. The Melvins are legendary, and owe explanations to no one. Their fans may even appear in the comments below, to excoriate me for my tepid reaction to their new record. They’ve had the time to become the band they want to be, making music in a manner that’s unique and immediately recognizable. They don’t sound like anyone, except themselves.

For all Black Breath’s ability, they still wear their influences on their sleeves. Maybe they always will. If they’re content with sounding like the best band that never made it out of Malmo in ’93, they’ll hear nothing but praise from me. Slot them into a playlist next to the Melvins, though, and it makes you think about how these things shake out in the long term. New, unknown bands win fans and influence by appealing to tendencies and tastes that already exist, synthesizing and reformulating chosen elements of their musical ancestors. Over time, they cease to be a collection of influences and grow into themselves.

The Melvins and Black Breath represent the extremities of this progression. Both of their new records make great listening, as do their live shows. But even though they’re both from Seattle, they couldn’t be more different.

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The band was a perspicacious early adopter of Guitar Hero (with “Freya” appearing in Guitar Hero II), and they were quickly able to reach a broader audience, abetted by a high profile tour in support of Metallica, whose drummer, the diminutive Dane Lars Ulrich, declared them his favorite metal band in existence. Nothing gets a close-minded headbanger’s goat like a dilettante at the mall sporting his one and only heavy metal t-shirt – nothing except for Lars Ulrich running his big mouth, that is.

Thankfully, the music cut through all the chattering and posturing. The Sword have never seemed particularly concerned with their lot in the metal life, instead focusing on crafting thunderous anthems of medieval combat and blood-soaked fantasy. 2008′s Gods of the Earth picked up where their first album left off, charging out of the gates with furious aplomb and gratuitous references to George R.R. Martin’s cult series A Song of Ice and Fire. The disc charted at #102 on the Billboard chart, and their star rose even higher.

This summer, the band will release their hotly anticipated third album. While it may not silence their critics, it will likely expand their audience even further; a recently-circulated press release spoke ominously of new-found “hard-rock” leanings. This phrase will surely send chills down the spine of many a metal purist, and indeed many a Sword fan, but the band is surely worthy of our trust at this late date.

The album’s subject matter is a good deal more heartening. Though they cut their teeth on the steel-and-sorcery fare that comes standard, Warp Riders is succinctly described as a sci-fi concept album; a collection of songs that act as the soundtrack for a story of men garbed not in chain mail, but in space suits. Singer J.D. Cronise has spoken intriguingly in interviews about something called “tidal locking” and a planet that is perpetually half-day, half-night. San Francisco’s Slough Feg have long been masters of this sort of futuristic theme, and it’s exciting to see another band throw their hat into their ring, especially one as talented as the Sword.

Due out August 24th, Warp Riders features production by Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon, Isis) — the first outside producer the band has employed. New songs are already leaking out in dribs and drabs from the band’s tireless array of live performances, and anticipation is likely to build to a fever pitch as the summer continues. Keep your ears peeled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyaAmAUF74s&feature=related

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The doom metal genre has undergone precious few changes since drop-tuning was pioneered by Tony Iommi’s missing fingertips, and though unsuccessful stems and seeds have occasionally percolated to the bottom, the ripe buds of the art form — mammoth, fuzzy minor chords; hard-hitting, groove-oriented drumming — always seem to smell the same.

(Photo by Raymond Ahner)

You only have to take a quick look at Orchid’s belled-out hemlines to see where they draw their inspiration. Singer Theo Mindell, guitarist Mark Thomas Baker, bassist Nickel, and drummer Carter Kennedy each have one foot planted firmly in a rock and roll past, and their tunes hearken back to the golden age of Sab and Zeppelin, evincing a near-religious affinity for that bluesy, hairy Land Before Reagan. Their recent EP Through the Devil’s Door (The Church Within Records) delivers exactly the kind of otherworldly sojourn its title suggests, a kind of metal The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe, except that the Wardrobe is an Orange amp and the only talking goats involved sport pendulous bare breasts and owe allegiance to Satan.

orchid-01-into-the-sun.mp3
Orchid – “Into the Sun”

Many reviewers have exhausted their critical faculties figuring out exactly which Sabbath songs Orchid’s four tracks evoke, and suffice to say, those reviewers aren’t having any fun. Pointing out the similarities between the two bands is like trying to wow a cocktail party full of film critics with your crack analysis of how Gladiator is similar to Spartacus. It’s worth mentioning, however, that few bands are as adept at summoning the jazz-inflected 60′s phrasings of the Birmingham titans, an accomplishment that is largely due to the rubbery, musical bass playing of Nickel. Either that, or the fact that singer Mindell has been known to break out a pair of maracas in the heat of the live moment.

The EP kicks off with Baker’s chunky eighth-note chug on “Into the Sun.” Mindell bursts onto the scene shortly after like a church organ — big brass pipes coated with just enough time and dust. Kennedy’s drumming is heavy-handed, comfortable in that stoner-placating grotto right behind the beat, and tastefully uncomplicated, though he deploys thundering tom runs when called upon. Second track “Eastern Woman” is the surefire sing-along, beginning with a haunting sample before settling into a classic shuffle stomp. “Son of Misery,” the album’s third song, serves as sort of a bridging maneuver, featuring an affecting guitar lead and an eerie vocal that crescendos into “No One Makes a Sound,” the epic closer. Built around a pulsating downbeat snare, the final track eventually gives way into a psychedelic interlude, before culminating in a raucous riff explosion.

We can hope for a full-length album soon. In the meantime, you can catch Orchid tonight, Sunday April 11th, at Thee Parkside, opening for fellow local luminaries Slough Feg.

with Bible of the Devil, 8pm, $10, Thee Parkside (1600 17th St., SF)

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No matter how many times I enumerate Jucifer’s essential details, they’re still completely captivating. To wit, Amber Valentine and Edgar Livengood are the world’s heaviest husband-and-wife team. As if that weren’t quirky-cool enough, they’re also officially nomadic, having no base of operations other than their rock and roll RV and a trailer full of amps — guitarist/singer Valentine plays the loudest, largest guitar rig I’ve ever experienced personally. When I saw them at Annie’s Social (RIP!) she had 11 cabs set up.

The music is an arresting blend of sludge, shoe-gaze, noise, stoner-metal, and thrash, and its played with an atavistic conviction that most bands can only dream about (In a recent interview, Valentine mentioned that her husband’s hands are frequently damaged, due to his habit of playing cymbals with his fists). Their previous release L’Autrichienne (Relapse, 2008) was a masterful concept album about the French Revolution, capturing the band at its versatile best. Judging from the cover art, the new LP has a similar historical bent; presumably they’ll play some of it live when they rumble Thee Parkside on March 18th.

jucifer-contempt.mp3
Jucifer – Contempt

Bison B.C. – Dark Ages (April 13th, 2010, Metal Blade Records)

This Vancouver band specializes in the kind of fuzzy, uptempo, thrash-influenced stoner metal that’s all the rage these days, and the quality of their riffs inducts them easily into the company of bands like High on Fire, Saviours, or Portland’s Red Fang. Though the denim jacket aesthetic and vintage amp guitar tone promulgated by the band aren’t groundbreaking in and of themselves, Bison’s relentless creativity, death metal growls, and off-kilter approach (the lead single features a french horn) help distinguish them from their peers. A quick listen to “Stressed Elephant” below will convey things more eloquently than I can. The band is also remarkably prolific (Dark Ages being their third album in four years) — always a nice thing to be able to add to the plus column. They’ll be appearing (with Mastodon, High on Fire, Between the Buried and Me, Baroness, Priestess, and Black Cobra) at the mind-bendingly epic Missing Link festival, at Oakland’s Fox Theater May 8th.

“Stressed Elephant” at Explore Music

Exodus – Exhibit B: The Human Condition (May 7th, 2010, Nuclear Blast Records)

Oakland native sons Exodus have had few problems adapting their brand of vicious thrash to the modern metal landscape, and they’ve been hard at work in the studio with Megadeth producer Andy Sneap, crafting the follow-up to 2007′s The Atrocity Exhibition…Exhibit A. This will be the third LP to feature guitar tech-turned singer Rob Dukes, whose vitriolic delivery compliments the band’s razor wire attack perfectly. Judging from the demo track “Hammer and Life” released to the band’s MySpace, the new album will continue in the same direction as the rest of the band’s latter day releases, relying on violent grooves spearheaded by lead guitarist Gary Holt and the precise, inventive drumming of founding member Tom Hunting.

Exodus was slated to appear at January’s lamentably canceled Cow Palace Slayer show, and though they’ve signed on for Megadeth‘s self-congratulatory Rust in Peace 20th anniversary tour, Mr. Mustaine is not gracing SF with his presence this time out. The band’s Bay Area roots are sure to bring them back before long, however, and their headbanging faithful will be taught “A Lesson in Violence” as the genre’s grandmasters round out a season of exciting new releases.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

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I became aware of the prevailing trends in Down swag while researching their forthcoming effort, a live CD/DVD (due 3/23) called Diary of a Mad Band (not to be confused with the Jodeci release of the same name). An incendiary live outfit, Down combines the sludgy heaviness endemic to their below-sea-level hometown with the limber, improvisatory tendencies gleaned from their southern rock influences. The 100 hours of live footage included are sure to be rife with amplified goodness, and at least 300 shots of drummer Jimmy Bower looking exactly like Animal on the Muppets.

Despite Down’s yeoman efforts, the live album is a curious commodity in today’s heavy music circles, more of a record label investiture than a labor of love. The well-known difficulties and risks involved in producing such recordings are well known, and bands tend to hew closely to a live-DVD format that features them recreating recorded material as closely as possible.

The profusion of these by-the-book cash-grabs is worrying, but counterbalanced by the small number of live releases in recent years that capture the urgency and creativity of a heavy band firing on all cylinders. Though by no means comprehensive, or in any particular order, the list below attempts to give credit to three bands whose live discs have done themselves and their fans justice.

Dark Tranquillity – Where Death is Most Alive (Century Media Records, 2009)

U.S. tour promoters have never really known what to do with Dark Tranquillity, whose keyboard-tinged, science fiction take on melodic death metal is admittedly hard to complement. As veterans of the once-vibrant Gothenburg, Sweden metal scene, the band deserves credit for sticking to a successful formula, while eluding the nu metal tendencies and clean singing that have afflicted their former brethren. An upcoming stateside run with metalcore superheroes Killswitch Engage will likely raise their profile, but Dark Tranquillity is at their best when they’re playing to a receptive, familiar audience. Where Death is Most Alive captures a lengthy, career-spanning set for the benefit of die-hard Milanese fans, who sing along with the words and melodies with commendably full throat.

102-dark_tranquillity_-_the_treason_wall-fkk.mp3
Dark Tranquility – “The Treason Wall”

Clutch – Full Fathom Five (Weathermaker Music, 2008)

Though calling them a metal band is becoming more and more a stretch, the performative powers of Clutch cannot be denied. Well-known for never playing the same set list twice, the Germantown, MD band have improvisatory chops to burn and an extensive back catalog to comb through and re-imagine. The singing of vocalist Neal Fallon has improved immeasurably throughout the years, to match the band’s evolving sound; modern versions of aged classics are likely to provide a few pleasant surprises. The addition of a dedicated harmonica player and keyboardist during the recording of the album also works wonders.

04-clutch-texan_book_of_the_dead.mp3
Clutch – “Texan Book of the Dead”

Bloodbath – The Wacken Carnage (Peaceville Records, 2008)

Live albums can be indispensable when it comes to bands that hardly ever play live, which is the case with cult Scandinavian death metal conglomerate Bloodbath . Featuring Mikael Akelfeldt of wildly popular prog-metal outfitOpeth, the band combines the best of European and American death to produce a hybrid that is as potent as its public appearances are rare. The Wacken Open Air festival is known to metalheads as a headbanger’s Mecca, hosting thousands of beer-swilling, leather-clad maniacs each summer on a swath of German lawn, and the event has the kind of unholy allure necessary to get the members of Bloodbath on stage together. Luckily for their fans, Peaceville Records was wise enough to roll tape during their 2005 appearance.

Feel free to chime in in the comments with any quality, recent metal live albums I may have overlooked (not that my readers tend to need an invitation). I’m sure there are a couple, or even many.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

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Once the mutton-chopped visage is audibly coupled to the hair-raising Motor-Sabbath destruction of Pike’s Bay Area power trio High on Fire, the slack-jawed showgoer becomes aware of something headbangingly transcendent transpiring before their very eyes. High on Fire first made waves with 2005′s Blessed Black Wings, which was produced by the legendary Steve Albini. Though the participation of the Chicagoan iconoclast served as a journalistic hook that landed the band, gills gasping, into the critical fishing boat, it was the relentlessly powerful riffs that kept music writers and ticket buyers interested when 2007′s Death is this Communion came around.

Momentum continued to build in the ensuing years, and the group’s incendiary live shows and the broad appeal of their fury saw them added to tours of increasingly high profile, culminating in a national run in support of Mastodon and Adult Swim cartoon-metallers Dethklok in late 2009. The stage is set for High on Fire’s forthcoming Snakes for the Divine (due in early February), which Pike promises will be extremely heavy (surprise, surprise), and replete with nods to classic influences like late-70′s Judas Priest. Bassist Jeff Matz (formerly of beloved hardcore outfit Zeke) is shouldering additional songwriting responsibilities this time around, which is sure to expand and abet the trio’s hard-charging sound.

Before forming High on Fire, Pike played in legendary local stoner metal outfit Sleep, whose much-debated, endlessly recast magnum opus Dopesmoker/Jerusalem consisted of one 60-minute track, much to the consternation of their record label. Rumors swirl in the deep of a Sleep reunion tour, in the wake of one-off East Coast festival gigs, so if your more bong-graspy friends raise one or even two eyebrows in eager anticipation, that might well be why. This news, when added to the promise of a new offering from Pike’s current band, marks an auspicious beginning to a fresh decade, ripe for defilement.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

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• Shredification: Spring Metal Preview
• My Metal Month of May

Some of 2009′s best offerings have already been profiled in my two previous columns, so spots are reserved in my top ten for Baroness’ Blue Album , Shrinebuilder’s self-titled release, and Gama Bomb’s Tales from the Grave in Space. The seven discs to follow round out a ten-spot of metal mastery.

Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Reprise Records)

These endlessly talented Atlanta-based progonauts show no sign of slowing down, and in 2009 they produced their most inventive and ambitious album yet while cementing their status as the country’s best heavy band. Crack the Skye features seven mind-expanding tracks, weaving together epic leads and inventive drumming with a newly perfected three-vocalist attack.

Ensiferum – From Afar (Spinefarm Records)

Five Finns who straddle the line between thrash, folk, death, and power metal, Ensiferum are the masters of the folk-inflected warrior anthem. Fearless songwriting, careful arrangements, and an arsenal of monster choruses make this the album that is sure to make the band a consistent headliner Stateside.

Saviours – Accelerated Living (Kemado Records)

The Bay Area native sons showed a newfound potency with this release, which features a solid stoner band transformed into a Motorhead-catalyzed NWOBHM monster with enough face-melting, toe-tapping riffs to fry 500 cabs. Winners of the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s yearly arts award (the Goldie – more about Saviours by yours truly here), the quartet will be poised on the brink of widespread acclaim if they keep kicking out such quality jams.

Centaurus-A – Side Effects Expected (Listenable Records)

In some ways a dark-horse contender, Centaurus-A make the cut on the strength of their debut album, an unimpeachable whirlwind of aggressive and difficult technical death metal. Many bands in the genre prefer to let hooks and listenability fall by the wayside as they strive for ever-more brain-bending patterns and structures, but these German newcomers prove that you can be relentlessly technical while still producing an album that makes listening a joy, not a mathematical chore.

Tyr – By the Light of the Northern Star (Napalm Records)

Hailing from the tiny Faroe Islands, these viking journeymen have languished as metal's best-kept secret for far too long. A number of high-profile touring spots and a resurgence in pagan and folk metal have elevated them to their rightful place in the spotlight, and this latest long-player leaves no doubts as to why. Memorable, clever songwriting, dulcet, close-harmony clean singing, and powerful lyrics in English and Faroese make this longboat-fest one of the year's best.

Tombs – Winter Hours (Relapse Records)

Tombs’ Brooklyn roots and noise-rock leanings suggest the creeping odor of hipsterdom, but their titanic grooves, eerie melodies, and otherworldly guitar tone banish these quibbles with extreme prejudice. Stately, Isis-style post-metal has begun to give way into a growing sludge-y trend, and the trio’s squalling instrumentation and haranguing, bellowed vocals make them standout among the ear-piercing, down-tuned pack.

White Wizzard – High Speed GTO (Earache Records)

The lineup that recorded this retro gem has since bifurcated into two bands with identical styles, one which carries on the White Wizzard name and another named Holy Grail. Founded by L.A. headbangers who yearned for the days when metal was more fun and carefree, High Speed GTO features seven tracks filled with unrepentant, Yngwie-style shredding, party-ready grooves, and the soaring vocals of James Paul Luna (now of Holy Grail), for my money the best young metal vocalist on the planet. Like the car the album is named after, White Wizzard is all chrome, clean lines, and American muscle.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

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In recent years, heavy music has witnessed an explosion of so-called “retro-thrashers,” all attempting to capture the glory and furious fecundity that the genre experienced in the middle eighties, when the Big Four (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer) were at their peak and thrash outposts like Germany birthed classic bands like Sodom and Kreator. The results attained by these backwards-looking hair-farmers have been varied — sometimes ripping, sometimes mediocre, sometimes downright poseur-tastic — so allow me separate the ripe wheat from the corny, fecal chaff.

Gama Bomb

Ireland isn’t known as a metal hotbed, but the thrash masterpieces produced by Dublin natives Gama Bomb might just change that reputation. 2008′s Citizen Brain (Earache) was my favorite album of that year, combining impossibly fast razor-wire riffing with a tongue-in-cheek lyrical sensibility that name-checked video games, horror movies, and the band’s inexhaustible appetite for alcohol. The immaculate production and airtight drumming added further incentive to headbang unabashedly (headbash unabangedly?), but it was the group’s way with a heavy hook that made them stand out, with guitarists Luke Graham and Domo Dixon proving that you don’t have to sacrifice an ounce of frenetic mayhem to produce a riff with unrestrained earworming tendencies.

Gama Bomb is back this year with Tales from the Grave in Space , and their dedication to preaching the thrash gospel is made apparent by their decision to make the entire album available for free download on Earache’s website. The band’s picking hands and double bass feet seem undiminished by their heavy drinking, and the gleefully theatrical vocals, light-speed chugging (both guitar and booze), and machine-gun fills all return with a vengeance, replete with a pulpy sci-fi twist. Now if only they would fucking tour the U.S. already!

05-Escape-From-Scarecrow-Mountain1.mp3
Gama Bomb – Escape from Scarecrow Mountain

Skeletonwitch

This Athens, Ohio band wears the mantle of retro-thrash reluctantly, but their classic sensibilities, hair-raising tempos, and song titles (“Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery”) leave modern metal taxonomers little recourse. The quality of debut LP Beyond the Permafrost (Prosthetic) rocketed them into prominence, and they’ve toured with some of the best in the business, including the legendary performing midget Glenn Danzig (please don’t sue me!). The quintet stormed stores on October 13th with Breathing the Fire, which is sure to increase their renown by leaps and bounds.

The music is a mix of relentless thrashy grooves and a riffing style that lies at the magical intersection between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Black Metal’s less tortured chord voicings. Vocalist Chance Garnette brings a raspy, high-and-low vocal approach that is distinctly post-thrash, but there’s hardly reason to quibble when one is exposed to the band’s soaring solos and anthemic choruses. Drummer Scott Hedrick excels at peppering his more straightforward parts with double bass salvos and some deft blast beats, and he underscores the murderous hammer-ons and pull-offs deployed by guitarist Nate “N8 Feet Under” Garnette (Chance’s brother). If you’re interested in delving into the current crop of thrash, but retain a yen for European-style neo-classical melody, look no further.

Slayer

Obviously, Slayer is not a “retro”-thrash band, and before you ask, yes, there is some mouth-breathing, forum-trolling virgin out there who would excoriate me in the comments if I didn’t issue a disclaimer. That aside, I can’t write a thrash column at this point in time without mentioning the release of Slayer’s latest opus, World Painted Blood (American Recordings/Sony Music), which came out November 3rd. The hype surrounding this album isn’t quite as frenzied as the last, which took full advantage of its 6/6/06 release date, but World… might just be the better offering, if only due to the raw, organic production by Greg Fidelman and longtime Slayer ally Rick Rubin, which gives the album an angry immediacy that recalls the band’s vintage classics.

Drummer Dave Lombardo is a living legend, but his drumming has never before been given so much emphasis, a wise decision in light of his still-steely creativity and untrammeled chops. The interplay between guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman is as demented and powerful as ever, as are the vocals of frontman Tom Araya, whose graying hair has lent him an aura of terrifying gravitas. Stand-outs like “Unit 731″ and “Public Display of Dismemberment” capture the band at their frantic best, and “Psychopathy Red” features a hammered-on main riff that evokes the ferocity of “Raining Blood.”

Slayer fans are notoriously hard to please, but one can’t imagine them griping when the new tracks surface in future set lists. There may be a resurgence of the “retro,” but for the veteran L.A. band, its just thrash, and they plan to fuck your face with it.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

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The Old:

Peter Tägtgren has been more active as a producer in the last decade or so, helming albums by Immortal, Dimmu Borgir and Children of Bodom. After the rise and undignified fall of the classic late-90′s Swedish Melodic Death Metal sound (I’m looking at you, In Flames), his original project Hypocrisy was pushed to the periphery of the metal world. 2005′s Virus (Nuclear Blast) was an under-appreciated effort, but the quality of A Taste of Extreme Divinity (Nuclear Blast), which hits stores November 3rd, will hopefully bring Tägtgren’s significant songwriting talents back into the bloodstained metal limelight. The Swede is one of the last practitioners of the classic, overdriven Sun Studios guitar sound, and A Taste… is laden with anthemic riffs and razor-wire harmonies, underscored by the unimpeachable drumming of Immortal skinsman Reidar “Horgh” Horghagen. Hypocrisy’s lyrical focus has historically been centered on alien abduction and little-green men — a sci-fi oddity in a genre laden with medieval fantasy — but the new disc features a more all-encompassing approach. Starting with the relentless thrash of opener “Valley of the Damned,” the new offering from an old warhorse gallops from start to finish.

The New

Shrinebuilder isn’t totally new, in the sense that its component parts have been on the scene for practically ever, but the first album from this stoner metal group hasn’t been released yet, so that makes them new enough for the purposes of my cheesy, bridal-themed title joke. Featuring doom legend Scott “Wino” Weinrich of The Obsessed, St. Vitus, and The Hidden Hand, Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Al Cisneros of Sleep/OM, and Dale Crover of The Melvins, it’s a lineup epic enough to get any of your friendly neighborhood stoner/doom fans foaming at the mouth. No release date has been set for the group’s self-titled opus (on Neurot Records), but there is a track available at that link above, so feel free to listen to it over and over again while you chew your nails in anticipation, like I am doing at the time of this writing. I actually talked to someone who had the chance to listen to the record, and he made much of how cool it is that Wino, Scott, and Al share vocal duties, before I killed him in a fit of jealous rage. A handful of shows have been planned for this fall — unfortunately, none West of the Rockies — but the fact that they’re finally gigging, coupled with the fact that they’ve finally released a song, means we might see the album sooner rather than later.

The Brutal

Egyptology-obsessed death metallers Nile have carved a prosperous niche for themselves in the world of blast-beat worship, and Those Whom the Gods Detest is a worthy follow-up to 2007′s Ithyphallic (Both Nuclear Blast), while simultaneously demonstrating a profound respect for the correct use of English pronouns. Again showcasing the Middle Eastern-inflected carnage of guitarists Karl Sanders and Dallas Toller-Wade, the disc gets its mind-bending fury from the drumming of George Kollias, who must have made some unholy deal with Anubis to make his legs the double-bass equivalent of an industrial sewing machine. The lyrics are still plucked right off the obelisks, with song-titles like “Hittite Dung Incantation” and “4th Arra of Dagon,” and the creepy interludes on guitar, djembe, and a traditional instrument called a baÄŸlama still make you feel like you’re standing on the flood-plains, dodging hungry crocodiles and the servants of some tyrannical, inbred pharaoh. The band even took a page from Sting’s “Desert Rose”-era playbook, enlisting the help of a strong-throated Egyptian folk singer to provide unpredictable tonal singing on opener “Kafir!” Given the intensely unsettling effect of the combination, it was a brilliant move. The album comes out November 3rd.

The Blue

Georgia is well represented in metal circles these days, with Kylesa, Mastodon, and finally Baroness all hailing from the Peach State. The Savannah band made a huge impression with their untitled “Red Album” in 2007, and now they’re back with their second LP for Relapse, “The Blue Record.” Singer/guitarist John Baizley is becoming more of a household name due to his captivating, inventive art (see above), plying his paintbrush for a number of up-and-coming metal acts, but he’s no slouch with his pick either. The new album, due out October 13th, proves that the critical darlings have much more to offer, combining squalling stoner licks with off-kilter, clean-toned melodies, Southern rock twang, and folky tinges. Standout tracks like “Ogeechee Hymnal” and “The Sweetest Curse” feature the band at their atmospheric, textural best. As one of the most original and inimitable groups currently active in the genre, Baroness should finds fans exhausting their new offering, with dreams of the Yellow, Purple, and Chartruese records dancing in their heads.

Shredification is a monthly expedition into the world of heavy music led by San Francisco Bay Guardian and Bay Bridged writer Ben Richardson. Combining album reviews, news, and general commentary, it uses the power of forgotten heathen rituals to surreptitiously devour your soul. Ben can be reached at ben.richardson@thebaybridged.com.

Related Posts:

• Shredification: Best Metal Albums of 2009
• Shredification: Spring Metal Preview