Links:
Acid King
The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight

Thank Robert E. Lee in heaven for The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight. The Southern rebels roll out grandpappy's organ and blend bountiful, syrupy guitar lines into a high-energy concoction that comes across as one-half Mountain, one-half Corrosion of Conformity, but outros in a swirl of moody psychedelia that completely diffuses the rollicking vibe introduced. The Obsessed's genius mastermind Wino Weinrich leaves his white-hot guitar stylings with his current band Spirit Caravan, stepping into a lead vocalist role here. His working man's approach to metal, along with a cemented cult hero status fit TMKOC like a trucker's greasy, broken-in baseball cap. The heretofore instrumental NOLA jamming club--a side project of the members of Eyehategod--still get their rocks off musically despite having a degree of freedom chiseled away by the presence of a vocalist. The multi-talented Jimmy Bower--a NOLA institution over the last decade with his drumming in Crowbar and Down, and guitar in Eyehategod--adds to his steadfast involvement in the scene by tossing some bluesy riffs into TMKOC's melting pot of grooving metal, southern jam, and smoke-shrouded dreamscapes.

-Dan Cullity
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Links:
BRAVE

-Sabrina Haines
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Shallow
16 Sunsets in 24 Hours
The Music Cartel

Links:
The Bronx Casket Co.

Many bands want that instant gratification of becoming the next "Big Thing" with a record label without really working out what is needed, uh, like the music. Bands nowadays who sign with major labels generally do not make singles unless they have already "made it," and then the singles come out after the record has taken off. For a band that is just starting out, going straight to a full-length has cluttered our record shelves with music that is lacking some sort of a listener-based filtering system before it hits the streets. Here are two bands that have taken different routes but have reached the same destination.

The Bronx Casket Co.'s self-titled release features D.D. Verni of Overkill stardom. Verni wrote the entire album and then hand-picked the rest of the band. This release was recorded at the "acclaimed" Carriage House Studio in Connecticut where Pantera, Overkill and other notables have recorded (as if a studio is going to make the music). BCC are labeled as doom/goth/metal, appealing to fans of Black Sabbath, Type O Negative and Trouble. This self-titled disc comes off as a lo-fi B horror movie soundtrack gone bad. They sound like slow brooding dark less-than-metal Misfits outtakes from their early years, which could have to do with the singer Spy (ex-Misfits) trying to sound like a young Danzig that he isn't. The best track on this release is the cover of Metallica's "Jump in the Fire." Enough said, when the best song isn't even yours. I will give Verni credit for writing all the material. He isn't a Rob Zombie or a Trent Reznor, but with some work and tweaking he may come up with something.

In contrast Shallow, having released several singles and EPs, come to prove that you can do whatever you want as long as you enjoy it. From the shores of England they come to invade your space or take over your CD player. Shallow melds stoner, indie and rock grooves into a freeform whirling mass of psychedelia. Strictly sticking to the credence of what happens happens, Shallow do not put limits on the music they serve up. Creativity is the goal that they set out to accomplish. With 16 Sunsets in 24 Hours Shallow has definitely gone through the steps of accruing street cred, but I guess the filter was not small enough. Sure these guys can play and sound like good musicians, but things seem to get lost on the overall diversity of the styles they play--covering too much ground without keeping the listener focused on the consistency of the album.

-Steve Weatherholt
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E-mail:
coleslaw@serv.net

Perhaps I have been simply hungry when listening to this, but I have found that I do not wish to inhale orange juice or cyanide, I have received expert advice from a colon therapist (for gas no less--something us vegetarians could use), and more! Pleasantly, this Self-Help instruction is set to a well-executed, instrumental mellow and sometimes industrial dark and creepy style. This CD will not roll your socks off with gripping rhythm or power, but it is certainly a twisted ambient relaxation and cleansing treatise--minimal, slow, mellow, melodic and calming, and scathingly entertaining.

-Jennifer Johnson
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Like Frankenstein's monster, Electric Wizard is chin deep in the knowledge of its own grotesque form but finds temporary solace in the severe butchery of unfortunate souls: the monster with his bare hands, Electric Wizard with dense, earsplitting chords and bloodthirsty lyrics. Not to be confused with NYC punks Electric Frankenstein, this three-piece from Dorset, England, dwells contentedly in the darkness beneath a viscous stew of down-tuned guitar, fuzz bass, and plodding drums. The musical formula is simple and classic and, for the most part, the light production touch keeps it that way. The band does get carried away at the end of the third phase of their "Weird Tales" trilogy with a seemingly never-ending dose of atmospheric effects that takes direct aim at the heavily sedated, and thus easily influenced, stoned listener. But this is a one time only indulgence. The real meat of Dopethrone is a steadily churning three instrument miasma. Lyrically, Jus Oborn takes a drink from the same macabre brew that sustained Geezer Butler during Sabbath's early years, though a taste for swift vengeance rises to the surface of the apocalyptic epic "Funeralopolis," and the simple scythe slash "We Hate You." Oborn is heavily informed by the world of sci-fi and fantasy, making Electric Wizard's brand of doom digestible since it's carried out by a cast of otherworldly warriors, sorcerers, and demon chasers. The band peddles escapism not realism. Yet on this, their third full-length album, Oborn's dystopian vision is often an obtuse one, especially on the ham-fisted synopsis of the Conan adventures simply titled "Barbarian." But Electric Wizard's ascetic devotion to dark ideas and unsettling music eventually yields a small, yet prized crop. Songs such as "Vinum Sabbathi," "I, The Witchfinder" and the title track offer some brutal, satisfying, and totally saturated doom. The latter is a stoner rock landmark that picks up where "Sweet Leaf" left off, marrying the worlds of metal and marijuana in a hypnotic dirge that becomes a kind of coronation. Its vivid mantra "rise black amps tear the sky / riff hewn alter wreathed in smoke and weed" perfectly articulates the attitude and vibe of the entire stoner/doom nation.

-Dan Cullity
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Links:
Dreadnaught

-Steve Weatherholt
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Links:
Escape From Earth

What the hell?

Should I have been disappointed that the band hadn't sent along floss as well? Should I have been disappointed that they hadn't also shipped their mum's homemade (vegan!) chocolate chip cookies so I had a need to actually brush my teeth?

This was my very own miniature monolith. A personal little seven-inch, blue, bristled conundrum. And while I sat twirling this little riddle over and again, Gravity played straight through without me even noticing. I had to hit "play" a second time. It didn't make any difference. The album rolled from end to end without garnering the slightest blush from my pointy, music-inclined ears. About time three through the album I forced myself to sit up and pay attention. And while Escape From Earth appear to have a very earnest and honest approach to the nu-metal music they seem so enamored with--and while I tried my best to be diligent and give it a good listen, dutifully noting all the double kick drum rolls and gruff-yet-pleading vocals--all I could think about was this toothbrush...and the fact that a former girlfriend was conceived to the sounds of Neil Diamond.

I thought my younger brother might like Escape From Earth. Then I remembered that, like me, he grew up on punk. Besides, he ended up liking the toothbrush better. "Fuck off! You can't have it." I thought about passing the album along to my eighty-year old landlady who lives next door. Then I thought better of it as I realized she'd probably throw out her back on the first listen and, besides, I had become obsessed that she would want the toothbrush as well...probably to scour her dentures with. I tried taking the album to my local indie music store (support local music, dammit!), but they refused to buy Gravity without my little blue monolith. I personally think they even weren't interested in the album at all, just the toothbrush. My toothbrush...my monolith.

So what the hell is the deal with this damn toothbrush?

I don't know. Actually, I'm a little scared to find out. But what I do know is that even though there's nothing wrong with Gravity, and while it would sit nicely alongside anyone whose collection includes White Zombie, this toothbrush is by far more attractive..and it's mine...and if anyone wants it they're going to have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

I'll tell you what. E-mail Earpollution with your name and address and I'll post the album to you. You review it and I'll print it in the next edition of eP. But you can't have the toothbrush! It's my toothbrush...my monolith.

-Craig Young
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Throughout the years, E.N.T. has had a member-go-round of all the best metal and grind bands. If you live in Britain and you learn to play fast, you may still have a chance to join E.N.T. someday. In addition to long-timer Dean Jones and Adam Catchpole, E.N.T. recruited Ali Firouzbahkt on bass, Gian Pyres (ex-Cradle of Filth) on guitar, Butcher on guitar and Zac O'Neil on drums for this go 'round. No matter who plays in E.N.T., they still have the same aura. No matter who plays, no matter the philosophy, they will mesh and blend into the E.N.T. sound. There is perhaps a supernatural force that forms the musical core of this band and attracts in new members to prey upon musically. I guess that could be taking it a little too far but every time new members, every time great recordings with the same gritty quality. No one but E.N.T. is that consistent.

Being and Nothing contain ten tracks of ear-polluting musical spiel anchored by the stunning title track "Being and Nothing," "Non Believer Genocide" and "When Gods Burn." If you play metal at all then you know E.N.T. and you already have an opinion. You cannot mistake an E.N.T. recording for anyone else and no one else does it so consistently well. Yes, the songs do blend together and at times it is nerve-racking, but for the chosen few that hold on through the end it is tremendously rewarding. Eventually all the pounding and pummeling begins to grab hold of your nervous system and you learn to love it and even crave it. Yes, E.N.T. is an addiction and Being and Nothing is the fuel for the fire.

-Sabrina Haines
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-Sabrina Haines
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Links:
The Hellacopters
The Flaming Sideburns

Each band performs three songs. The Hellacopters do two covers by Smokey Robinson: "Whole Lot of Shakin' in my Heart (Since I Met You)" and "Get Ready." They also perform a cover of The Flaming Sideburns' "Underground Confusion," taken from the album It's Time to Testify...Brothers and Sisters. The Flaming Sideburns pound out two new tracks from their up-coming Bad Afro debut album and a Hellacopters song, "Psyched Out and Furious," from Payin' the Dues. If you happen to be outta the punk rawk scene, these two bands kick out low down dirty rock 'n' roll for the beer drinking masses that like their rock straight up without any chaser.

-Steve Weatherholt
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Links:
Le Tigre

From the Desk of Mr. Lady picks up right where the first release left off. Like knuckles from nowhere the girls tear into "Get Off the Internet" and its most valid social commentary as Kathleen not so kindly ponders "Where are my friends / get off the Internet  / I'll meet you in the street." One has to adore the playful simplistic Casio melody laid over Kathleen's just-about-to-explode vocal delivery. From there they take pop shots at cops, sexual discrimination, idiocy, and politics--which in some way or another all comes around to the male and the album's finest moment: "They want us to make a symphony out of the sound of women swallowing their own tongues." A sample collage of dialogue between male interviewer asking a question of the girls about their options as females versus their feminist point of view, they having no answer except for, "Er... Umm... Ahhh..."

Le Tigre make brilliant and charged music. Once you've picked up either Le Tigre disk and given it a few spins, you're hooked. All my friends love this one.

-Jeff Ashley
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Links:
The Living End

-Steve Weatherholt
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Links:
Lower 48

This is the real deal, folks. Girlfriend left you? Truck broke down? Lost your job? Dog run over? Need to walk the tracks and take some time thinkin' about how badly you want to lose yourself in the winsome howl of an honest guitar? This is the soundtrack, my friend. It's too bad bands like Son Volt had to blow up the No Depression scene, because it just makes it that much harder for working bands like Lower 48 to get the attention they deserve.

So hike your backpack on your shoulder and blow this two-bit town. And when you see Lower 48 coming down the highway, stick out your thumb and don't let them pass you by.

-Craig Young
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-Mark Teppo
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