Bands – Page 4 – Southern Lord Recordings Europe

Wolfbrigade

WOLFBRIGADE have been storming the scene internationally in one form or another since 1995. Then formed as Wolfpack, the outfit unleashed three LP’s and as many EPs of their potent crust-inspired punk in less than five years, instantly making a massively influential impact worldwide and helping fuel an entire new wave of “d-beat” bands and scenes internationally. With some personnel changes at the turn of the century the band kicked off the new millennium under the revamped moniker WOLFBRIGADE. Since then the band’s already powerful attack became even more sinister and morose, yet more aggressive and pummeling. Following six LP’s and several splits and mini-releases under the WOLFBRIGADE banner since 2001, the outfit have remained at the top of their game and continue to release invigorating and demoralizing socially-aimed antagonism on a regular basis.

Wartorn

WARTORN has protested political tyranny and reality vrs ideology with a devastating brew of metallic crustpunk since 2004. The band has assaulted live audiences across thirteen countries in North America and Europe in support of releases on renowned crust/punk labels including Profane Existence and Crimes Against Humanity, while its members also take part in other active and notable acts like Dresden, the Parish, and Deathwish. The band’s latest album Iconic Nightmare, released via Southern Lord in 2013 takes their powerful songwriting and execution to new levels, surging with nine crushing anthems in barely twenty-five minutes. WARTORN will be hitting the road again in April with Scotland’s OI POLLOI and Vindictive from California to tear up the Midwest and West Coast.

Warhorse

Reissued and back on vinyl after 14 years of silence! A Massive conjuration from Boston’s old Lords of doomed darkness. A return to the eve of all that’s heavy & punishing! Evil doom at its bleakest!

This crushing exclusive vinyl release compiles their “As Heaven Turns To Ash” album and the “I Am Dying” 7”

Uniform Choice

One of the greatest American Hardcore releases of the 80s’ gets the deluxe Southern Lord reissue treatment!

“Screaming For Change” was the debut album from Orange County, Californias’ godfathers of positive Hardcore: Uniform Choice. It was originally released in 1986 on the bands own label: Wishing Well Records. Vocalist Pat Dubar recently contacted Southern Lord with the desire to have a official re-issue of the classic album “done right”. After several unauthorized, completely sub-par bootlegs appeared Pat wanted a definitive version released to set the record straight!

This essential piece of hardcore history has been remastered from the original tapes by Brad Boatright (Excel, Nails, High on Fire, YDI, Brotherhood). The elaborate packaging includes a 8 page 12”x12” booklet bound into a stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket. There are a ton of amazing, never before published photos from the personal archives of the band and their friends. This is a very special release that is not to be missed!

Torch Runner

North Carolinas’ Torch Runner viciously bring forth a volatile, pissed-off brew of metallic, downbeat punk/hardcore/grind, for fiends that are into filth like: (OLD) Napalm Death Dead In The Dirt,Weekend Nachos, and Nails.

Today Is The Day

Southern Lord Recordings is beyond stoked to broadcast that influential, visionary metal act, TODAY IS THE DAY, has joined with the label’s roster for the release of their massively anticipated tenth studio album later this year.

Early this year, TODAY IS THE DAY’s newest lineup was announced, as the foundation of the then unnamed album was taking shape. Guitarist/vocalist Steve Austin welcomed Sean Conkling (Regression, Burn Your Halo, Sprawl) on bass. Since December and January Austin has been painstakingly layering guitars, vocals and more, and as the final sessions for TODAY IS THE DAY’s tenth studio full-length recording, the band happily unveils the name of the impending LP, as Animal Mother.

“Sometimes things just dial-in and align perfectly,” Steve Austin stated on signing with Southern Lord for the release of Animal Mother. Myself and TODAY IS THE DAY are extremely excited about working with Southern Lord Records and Greg Anderson. To me they have the right idea about the kind of music they release; heavy, real, experimental, integrity-driven music is what the label represents to me. TODAY IS THE DAY’s Animal Mother LP on Southern Lord in 2014… I don’t think I could ask for anything more!”

Added Southern Lord owner Greg Anderson on the union, “Southern Lord is deeply honored to be working with TODAY IS THE DAY. Steve Austin has been a long time force in the underground and we’re stoked to now be a small part of the TITD legacy.”

As per the album title, Austin offers, “Animal Mother means the embodiment of the prophetic gift of the shaman; it is the shaman’s visionary power, which is able to penetrate the past and future.” Early this year the frontman warned the public that the album is “a fifteen-song rampage of bloody carnage fueled by hate, love and vile, raw emotion,” continuing, “I feel it is my finest work to this date. It is the most complex and HEAVY record we have ever made. This is real — no bullshit Protools crap; just pure violent energy and real band songwriting in the middle of the woods in Maine. It lies somewhere between Temple of The Morning Star and In The Eyes of God, and Jeff’s playing is beyond incredible. I was determined to push the limits in complexity, musicianship, and creativity as far as we could and I feel we have put together a record that narrates the horror and pain that we have been living through.”

For two and-a-half decades TODAY IS THE DAY has woven Steve Austin’s prophetic observations and noise-soaked chaos through a psychedelic, unique and unmatched battery of heavy styles. The outfit has spawned an incredible discography, forging their way to the forefront of Amphetamine Reptile, Relapse, Blackmarket Activities and many others. The band has pillaged the planet touring with countless acts over the past twenty years, with just a brief list including Motörhead, Morbid Angel, Helmet, Neurosis, The Melvins, Napalm Death, Coalesce, Unsane and Eyehategod. Steve Austin has produced nearly all of TITD’s releases, as well as groundbreaking albums for Lamb Of God, Converge, Deadguy, From Ashes Rise, Anal Cunt, and many others. Austin is featured in the Color of Noise Documentary about Amphetamine Reptile Records, and is currently scoring several independent films.

Thorr’s Hammer

Thorr’s Hammer was formed in Ballard, Seattle, Washington by Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley during winter 1994–1995. Soon after, Runhild Gammelsæter, then a 17-year-old Norwegian exchange student, joined the band as vocalist/lyricist. The band reached its final form when Jamie Sykes and James Hale joined. The band was active only for six weeks during which it played two gigs and recorded a demo and an EP titled Dommedagsnatt. In 1997, the song “Troll” from their EP Dommedagsnatt was released on The Awakening – Females in Extreme Music, a compilation album from Dwell Records.

The band disbanded after Gammelsæter’s return to Oslo, Norway. Burning Witch was formed from the ashes of Thorr’s Hammer, and Gammelsæter collaborated with James Plotkin (Khanate) to form Khlyst. Khlyst released a full-length album Chaos Is My Name in 2006, and a live album Chaos Live in 2008.

Thorr’s Hammer reunited in 2009 to play at the Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, England, and again in 2010 for The Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands. Line-up

Runhild Gammelsæter (a.k.a. Ozma) – vocals and lyrics
Greg Anderson – guitar (“drones and sunns”)
Stephen O’Malley – guitar (“crust and earth”)
James Hale – bass guitar (“subsonic attack”) (replaced by Guy Pinhas at the 2009 & 2010 reunion shows)
Jamie Sykes – drums (“battledrums”)

Discography

Dommedagsnatt (cassette 1996, CD 1998, CD reissue 2004, picture disc 2004)
Only Death Is Real – Live by Command of Tom G. Warrior (LP 2019, recorded live at Roadburn 2010)
Awakening – Females in Extreme Music (CD 1997)

The Secret

Southern Lord is proud to announce the newest members of its coven, brutal Italian group: The Secret. These days Its extremely rare that we receive a demo submission that blows us away. This was the case with the demo that the Secret had sent us. Their sound is relentless, uncompromising and extremely lethal. Anti-melody, pro-cacophony! Born and shaped in 2003 within the motionless city of Trieste, Italy, The Secret come to life as an output for rage, darkness and negativity. The Secret combines elements of crust/grind, primitive black metal, dark soundscapes and monolithic riffs to take the listener by the hand through an hallucinated trip towards a foggy and yet invisible tomorrow. After their 2003 Goodfellow Records debut album “Luce”, the band goes through countless line up changes and finds its own new incarnation in 2008 when their second full length “Disintoxication” was released. Since then The Goodfellow label has unfortunately ceased to exist. The Secret have now found shelter within Southern Lords’ bleak caves. This April The Secret will enter Godcity Studio in Salem, MA with producer Kurt Ballou to record their Southern Lord debut “Solve et Coagula”, their sonic interpretation of a total loss of faith in social system, religion, personal redemption and every institution. You are forewarned of a approaching monolithic steamroller whose destiny is to flatten all in its path!

“The last man standing tall that year went home and put his head in the stove, and his wife in the other room just screamed to let him know that he was not alone. “It’s alright!….I know what you are and I know there’s no way to talk you out, and I’ll tell them that you tripped and fell and I’ll let them harbor their doubts.” His kids all stayed in bed with duct tape thoughts, said their prayers to the ceiling fans and stared at all the shadows left on the wall from the shining limbs he left in the sand. No one got in the way as he burned against the barnyard red of a happy home amidst brilliant times and no one called the helpless card because everyone lives a lie. Everyone loves a lie. They know what’s been done. They know the way the words get mixed and the actions find a way to wrap themselves around the seemingly solid frames of modern hope and modern sight. It’s not just passion….nor unending will. No, if it was just that, then every sad pair of eyes would be able to get out of bed and make it through the front door. There is more, and I know you drink from the same well, and that you shared the similar mirage on cue that somewhere slaughter and rescue moonlight ‘cross land and sea as one in the same. . They come by way of spite. They come by way of brilliant disgust with rage tattooed deep into the palms. They come by way of blackened city lights and by trails of sonic bliss. This a not a warning. Warnings give the false hope of finding sudden shelters to crawl behind. This is the darkened life of four, without an absolute in sight. The Secret come by way of filth and promise. That, my friends, makes them a danger….the kind that you rarely have an opportunity to run into head on. The only difference is The Secret won’t stop until they’ve run straight through each and every one of you. This is the darkened last will of four with distortion brought to life.”
– Ryan J McKenney/Trap Them

Sunn O)))

LET THERE BE DRONE
All Hail Life Metal

Conceptualised and formed in March 1998 Sunn O))) have been challenging the ways we think about music in the twenty years since. A synthesis of drone, metal, minimalism and maximalism verging on pure sonic ecstasy. They induce meditative trance states in the listener through the power, beauty and colour of sound pressure emanating from their legendary backline of valve amplification and their Earth shaking tectonic compositions of existence, dedicated to the mysteries of life and the cosmos.

Sunn O))) has two core members and co-founders, Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, supported by a tribe of collaborators. From 1999’s The Grimmrobe Demos to 2018’s Downtown LA Rehearsal/Rifftape; from their now classic albums Black One (2006), Monoliths & Dimensions (2009), Soused (2014) & Kannon (2015) to their forthcoming 2019 epic album Life Metal & its shadow Pyroclasts, O’Malley and Anderson have forged paths and connections between the worlds of metal, contemporary art, drone, new music, jazz and minimalism with startling results while remaining true to the eternal principles of volume, density, elasticity of time, blossoming of saturation viable only to the disciples and fetishists of electric guitar, synthesis, multiple gain stages and some of history’s greatest pure valve amplification.

The current concert line-up extends around power trio of Stephen O’Malley (Guitar), Greg Anderson (Guitar), and their valve guru and long time collaborator Tos Nieuwenhuizen (Moog), alongside invited special guests. Together they relentlessly pursue their exploration and elaboration of Sunn O)))’s legendary experiments with the physicality of sound in instrumental based live performances with remarkable events at some of their favourite venues, as well as concerts as part of singular events and in unique spaces such as Italy’s impressive cultural complex Labrinto Della Masone, Germany’s Ruhrtriennale Festival of Arts, Royal Festival Hall & The Barbican in London, Bergen’s Dømkirke and Manchester International Festival being a few emblematic examples.

Rejoin them in their glorious pursuit of the monumental heaviness.

-Etienne Ni Mhaille, 2018

Sleep

Formed as a Bay Area hc/ punk rock band called Asbestosdeath, the band changed their musical direction and name and debuted as Sleep with their “Volume One” album in 1991. After Justin Marler left the band, the core lineup of Al Cisneros, Matt Pike and Chris Hakius went into the studio to record a demo cassette that they sent to Earache Records. The recording was released in November 1992 (exactly as received by the label!) under the name “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” and went on to forever alter the musical landscape. Countless current bands cite “Sleep’s Holy Mountain” as a major inspiration, and the unique sound and style of the record can be heard in many subsequent releases by bands from all over the world.

“Sleep’s Holy Mountain” created such a humongous buzz that major label London Records signed the band. Unfortunately, the label lacked the vision necessary to actually follow through and release the album that Sleep recorded, mostly because it took the not-radio-friendly form of a Single song — a 63 minute long ode to weed — called “Dopesmoker.” Sleep returned to the studio and edited the track down to 52 minutes and retitled it “Jerusalem”, but it was again rejected. London Records shelved the record and dropped the band, leading to their dissolution.

“Dopesmoker” was recorded by Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Melvins) at Record Two Studio in Comptche, California While recording the song, it began to form differently than the band had originally envisioned. Pike stated that the “song was getting slower and slower and then it got weird. We started tripping out and second guessing ourselves.” Recording the album was difficult. Pike recalled that “there was so much to memorize for that album, and we had to do it in like three different sections because a reel-to-reel only holds 22 minutes. It was really cool, but it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in in my life.”Sleep were in the studio for one month then went home to rehearse and returned for another month. Pike noted that they ended up with two or three different versions of the song.

In the aftermath of the breakup of the band four versions of the album were released. In 1999″Jerusalem” came out with a running time of 52 minutes and is a single composition split into six identically-named tracks. There are 3 different versions/releases of “Jerusalem” : (1) a rare London Records promotional disc (2) a bootleg with cover art by Arik Roper, and (3) the Rise Above/Music Cartel Records All three of these versions are edited and considered unauthorized versions. The version of the album titled Dopesmoker was released on April 22, 2003 by Tee Pee Records on compact disc and vinyl with a 63-minute running time. That version is the only version the band considers to be “authorized” and worthy of release. “Dopesmoker” stands as one of the towering achievements in recent metal history, a mesmerizing, intoxicating, and incredibly complex song that is still unrivaled in the annals of (stoner) metal.

In 2011 Southern Lord was contacted by Sleeps’ Al Cisneros about the possibility of releasing a deluxe version of this classic recording. The rights to the record had reverted back to the band and Cisneros wanted to breathe some new life into the old beast. Southern Lord was overwhelmingly ecstatic about the challenge of taking the reigns of one of the most important recordings in the history of Heavy Metal! The Lord version features brand new artwork by long time Sleep artist: Arik Roper who created something specifically special for the albums’ rebirth. The biggest difference between this new version and the old releases is the phenomenal remastering job by From Ashes Rise guitarist Brad Boatright (OFF!, Noothgrush). His vision was to enhance the original recording without changing it drastically. What he has done makes this epic opus sound invigorated, more powerful with more clarity and all around unbelievably mammoth. His work was enthusiastically approved by the band and considering how focused, vigilant and protective of their masterpiece the band is, that is nothing short of a miracle! Also exclusive to the reborn version of “Dopesmoker” is a unreleased live track of one of the best songs the band ever did: “Holy Mountain”. The booklet features newly penned liner notes by the band helping shed some new light on this holy grail of a album. “Drop out of life with bong in hand, follow the smoke to the riff-filled land”!

Sleep reformed in 2009 and now includes Jason Roeder of Neurosis on drums. In 2014 the band recorded a brand new song: “The Clarity”

The first new song from the masters since their life changing, anthemic 63 minutes & 36 second opus to marijuana: Dopesmoker (1999)!: “The Clarity” on side A, Etching on side B. Artwork (Etching) by David V. D’Andrea. Mastered by John Golden. Recorded by Noah Landis. “The Clarity” 12” was previously only available directly from the band via their merch table or online web-store. This Southern Lord version has been recut by Adam Gonsalves/Telegraph Mastering and pressed on 180 gram vinyl at RTI.

The Lord version also has the ultra heavy-weight vinyl housed in a thick plastic picture disc style sleeve with the iconic Sleep logo silk-screened in GLOW IN THE DARK INK on the front.

While there may have been a few like them before them, there were none like them really and certainly none of after them. And so in 2009 when they were reborn with Cisneros who’d been reframing the world with the band OM, Matt Pike doing double duty with this and his HIGH ON FIRE, and the estimable Jason Roeder doing the same with NEUROSIS, SLEEP did what it had done and what it had left to do. Largely and without pause, make music in tune with The Ages.