Hey there readers,
Each DoomMaster concert review will be complete with a roadtrip review that features mini-reviews on anything interesting that happened on the way to the venue. This includes albums in the car, notable purchases, as well as comments and shout-outs to any halfway decent record store we find along the way. The associated concert for this set of road reviews can be seen here.
Roadtrip 13th November 2016
Reviewed 2nd December 2016 by DoomMaster
Roadtrip Setlist Mini-Reviews:
|
Imperative Music Volume XII - July 2016 If you've made a purchase from Red Stream recently there's a chance to receive a mixed tape of metal music with seemingly random genres and locales. This particular sampler contained everything from heavy metal to death metal, but unfortunately only a few of the nearly twenty tracks were worth listening to depending on your taste for certain genres. The few tracks that stood out for me were the thrashy first track, the cavernous fourth track and the last few quirky heavy metal tracks. Check it out here |
 |
|
Morgue Supplier - Constant Negative Morgue Supplier are a band hailing from Chicago that plays a particularly technical and brutal style of death metal not unlike the band Origin. The band features impressive instrumental virtuosity and violence for such an unknown act, so this is definitely recommended for fans of the genre. Check it out here |
 |
|
BlöödHag- Hell Bent for Letters Seattle's BlöödHag perform their own brand of grindcore, with an impressive variety of genres thrown in. Hell Bent For Letters will definitely keep you on your toes through its running length with its originality and insane antics. Unfortunately being original doesn't have too much of an effect on quality as some of the songs may get on your nerves, but hey, you've got to know what your mind is in for with a grindcore release. Check it out here |
 |
|
Smuta- Song of the War Upon first impression, Smuta is an above average Russian pagan metal band with the usual folk instruments (mostly flute) played over distorted guitars with multiple vocal styles with harsh growls contrasted with clean female vocals. This album won't win over anyone with a distaste for the genre, but manages to be somewhat less cheesy than most bands in this segment. Check it out here |
 |
|
Lutomsyl- I(')MQUI(nt)ESs/cENCE Lutomysl is an interesting one man project out of Ukraine that plays some fairly raw black metal with English and Slavic vocalizations. I picked this one up at Encore Records on the way to the show simply because of the silly album art and name, since I had never heard of the band before, but I do not regret my purchase. The music here is fairly repetitive and stretched over long track lengths, but it's executed well enough to be trance-inducing instead of a massive bore-fest as is frequent with these types of bands. The aforementioned trance is broken whenever the English lyrics kick-in, which are frankly hilarious, with frantic ravings about depression and how something "smells like shit". Definitely give this a try if you're into quirky obscure black metal. Check it out here |
 |
|
Troll Bends Fir- Brothers In Drinks This was the first post-concert album on the drive back home, so we needed a bit of a pick-me-up for the ears since caffeine wasn't quite doing the trick. Luckily, Troll Bends Fir filled the role quite nicely, with an exciting take on folk metal. With an album name like Brothers In Drinks, and the self-branded genre of "beer folk", it's quite obvious that the music was going to be an upbeat foray into folk party-mode. Although this album lacked depth and started to sound a bit stretched-out by the end, the experience here was undoubtedly a great time, and a perfect album to liven-up some down time. Check it out here |
 |
|
Kroda/Oprich Split This was another grab from Encore Records before the show, and one that I was quite excited to listen to since I am a big fan of Kroda. The Kroda half of the split sounds just as majestic as one would expect from their brand of pagan black metal, with tasteful use of folk instruments and melodic guitar lines with powerful harsh vocals in the native tongue of Ukraine. Every fan of black metal should check out one of Kroda’s albums from the 2000’s, as they are all of very consistent quality and this one is no different. The Oprich half sounds completely amateurish in comparison, with a lot of the bad trademarks of mediocre Eastern Euro pagan metal bands such as excessive folk instruments and obvious post-effects on vocals. It’s not all bad though with some catchy segments and the song structure is fairly unique which makes it sound disjointed at times, but does a good job of breaking up the mediocrity and prevents it from becoming a borefest. If you’re a Kroda fan, pick this up, but unfortunately the Oprich side of the split is quite a bit longer than the superior Kroda effort, so skip it otherwise. Check it out here |
 |
Noteworthy Locations:
Encore Records
The gang stopped by Encore Records along the way, which boasts a great selection of obscure used CDs and vinyl. This is one of the only record stores in the US I've visited with NSBM on the shelves (the other being Heavy Metal Records in New York state), with great prices ranging from $4 up to $8 for most CDs, and up to $18 dollars for extremely rare releases or compilations. While the store also carries some relatively mainstream bands as well, the obscure stuff definitely warrants a trip if you're in the area.
