Canyon of the Skull-Canyon of the Skull

Self-Release/Independent
2015

 

Blackened and doomed to walk a scorched earth in misery for all eternity, Canyon of the Skull is a two-piece instrumental act that is based in Austin, Texas and comprised of Erik Ogershok (guitars, bass) and Adrian Voorhies (drums, percussion). In addition to this spectacular two track recording (which is due to drop on October 30th) the band has the "Demo 2013" to it's name. Meanwhile the Metal Archives lists this demo from 2007, but that's neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned. Right now the name of the game is "Canyon of the Skull" and it's a damn fun game at that! Or at least it is if you love creepy crawly blackened doom! On "Canyon of the Skull" we find this Texas two-piece (which incidentally was formed in 2006 by Erik Ogershok and is otherwise known as COTS) engaging in the fine art of sonic destruction that is otherwise known black metal. Over the course of two deathly cold tracks these doom warriors make the long trek across a tortured wasteland where no signs of life exist. In the process COTS creates a sinister soundtrack that is not that far removed from what you might experience on a stoner rock and/or sludge metal recording. Now, even though there are only two tracks on this forthcoming release there is a lot of material for your mind to chew on. For one "The Path (Of Bear And Wolf)" is a little over 17 minutes in length! Then there's "Canyon Of The Skull" which clocks in at over 18 minutes!! Between these two tracks you end up with well over 30 minutes of bruising metal(!) and (needless to say) COTS packs a lot of ideas into that time frame! Instrumental blackened doom has seldom been so epic so kudos to founder Erik Ogershok and his bandmate Adrian Voorhies! With the excellent "Canyon Of The Skull" serving as the group's official debut album it's hard to imagine this Austin act doing anything other than moving there way up the ranks of the blackened doom metal scene. Overall the instrumental "Canyon of the Skull" is a great first effort and one that should be appreciated by fans of this niche market.

 

 

 

 

BANDCAMP: https://canyonoftheskull.bandcamp.com/ 

 

FACEBOOK: facebook.com/canyonoftheskull

 

TWITTER: twitter.com/canyondoom

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/anyonofthekull
 

REVERBNATION: https://www.reverbnation.com/canyonoftheskull2
 

BANDSINTOWN: http://www.bandsintown.com/CanyonOfTheSkull

MYSPACE: https://myspace.com/canyonoftheskull

 

Dead Earth Politics-The Queen of Steel

Self-Release/Independent
2014

Austin-Texas heavy thrash/groove metal band Dead Earth Politics are offering the three-track EP "The Queen of Steel" as a digital-only, name-your-price download that will come complete with lyrics and liner notes.You can find the download link at their official site below. Active since 2005, with this serving as the band's second EP and third overall release, the band has been compared to the likes of Lamb of God, Iron Maiden and Pantera and really (if we're simply to go by this 13+ minute EP) that's a fairly spot-on description (especially, musically-speaking and all, the Lamb of God and Iron Maiden parts where it's almost like the old Reese's Peanut Butter bit of someone got chocolate in my peanut butter/someone got peanut butter in my chocolate only with someone got Lamb of God in my Iron Maiden and vice versa!!!)! Opener "Redneck Dragonslayer" (Yeah, I know! I love the title as well boys and girls!) starts the party off on the right foot and with a (seemingly) new lead vocalist named Ven Scott doing his best to sound like a raged-out and metal moshing maniac version of Phil Anselmo it's (as those crazy kids these days like to say!) "all good in the hood"! While their are also clean vocals sprinkled throughout this (bad mutha of a) EP it's not quite clear who contributes those so we'll just say that whoever it is that handles that side of the coin does a pretty bang-up job! Actually, kudos all around as this one simply slays! From start to finish, top to bottom it's one all out rage of a recording! So, that begs the question then as to why  I was left feeling sad at the end of it all? Well, that can be summed up fairly easily. I was sad because it's w-a-y too freakin' s-h-o-r-t! That's one thing that drives me bat shit crazy about these little slabs of METAL fraggin' WARFARE! Starting strong and then teasing me by tearing through a mere three tracks just doesn't cut it with me friends! Why is it that all of real rock and shock, flat-out rage feasts are always t-o-o damn short? Dead Earth Politics are the kind of act that need a full, flushed out LP so that it doesn't simply come to a grinding halt just when you're really getting your rage on! Granted, it's a stupid complaint right? It's only a length-issue at the end of the day. Still, I really want to hear a full-length BEAST out of this Austin act now so let's hope that this little teaser is just wetting our appetites for a full-scale invasion of thrash metal groove glory!!!! 


http://deadearthpolitics.com/