Bands – Page 9 – Southern Lord Recordings Europe

Burning Witch

FORMATION:
After the breakup of the cult doom/death band Thorr’s Hammer in 1995, Stephen O’Malley, Greg Anderson and Jamie Sykes formed Burning Witch. The band then added G. Stuart Dahlquist and vocalist Edgy 59, rounding out their lineup. Anderson left the band and moved to Los Angeles to form the band Goatsnake. In 1996, the band (w/out Anderson) recorded songs with Steve Albini, which would become the Towers… EP. This collection would actually not see a formal release on 12″ until 1998 on Slap A Ham Records. After the sessions for these songs, Sykes left the band and was replaced by B.R.A.D.
The sessions that followed the Albini recordings resulted in the Rift.Canyon.Dreams EP, which would prove to be the final recordings by the band, as they broke up soon after the disc was completed. It was released on 12″ by Merciless Records.

DISINTEGRATION:
Shortly after disbanding: ” Crippled Lucifer” a compilation CD of the two EPs, was released in 1998 by the then new label Southern Lord Records. It was the second release of the label, the first being Thorrs’ Hammer. Burning Witch briefly reformed for their last shows in the fall of 1998 after which Edgy 59 left the band. O’Malley reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))), and Dahlquist joined both in sunn 0))) for their first two albums (The Grimm Robe Demos øø Void) then briefly joined Anderson in Goatsnake for the “Flower of Disease” album. Currently, O’Malley is in various projects including Sunn O))), and KTL. Dahlquist and B.R.A.D are in Asva.

THE UNHOLY BIRTH OF A GENRE….
The sound, attitude and execution of Burning Witch is very slow, painful, and heavy. While the band was unabashed about their influences they effectively used these influences to create something unique for the time. Ultra-heavy, dark minimalist riffs, bombastic bass, and plodding war drums collided with vocals which alter between a nasal, melodic singing voice to a brutal, tortured demented scream/shriek. Burning Witch were truly the first band to incorporate the dark atmosphere of Black Metal with tortured doom-metal. Their influence is worn on the sleeves of many bands these days including: Graves At Sea, Goatsblood, Middian (YOB), Isis.

Burning Love

To the uninitiated, BURNING LOVE is a group from Toronto with a chip on their shoulder and electric blood in their veins; their output a desperate, venomous and informed rock n’ roll fury that sways and swaggers somewhere between hardcore punk and the darker side of blues gone wrong. After the sudden demise of the now legendary Cursed, enigmatic frontman Chris Colohan picked right back up where he the band last left us, but this time collaborating with the members of Our Father, comes back to the table with a band that had a decidedly different musical approach and direction. While Cursed was intent on quickly ripping your face off, BURNING LOVE takes that similar approach to new levels, luring you in with infectious hooks and full throttle blues before going in for the kill. Merging the darkness of Poison Idea, the melodic aspects of Queens of the Stone Age and the inspired high energy of the MC5, the attack of BURNING LOVE begins to come into focus.

Rotten Thing To Say was recorded by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou at his infamous Salem, Massachusetts-based Godcity Studio. The album was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side. The recording and the production of “Rotten…” shows a extreme improvement from the bands past recordings. Vocals are clearer which amplifies their vicious and venomous delivery. Guitars are as raw as ever and blatantly cranked to rip off your face. The songwriting reveals a band at their peak with riffs and melodies as infectious as tuberculosis.

Brotherhood

BROTHERHOOD was formed during the West Coast Hardcore surge in the same days of Insted, Bl’ast, Chain Of Strength and Uniform Choice, the members all bred in the Northwest on The Accused, Poison Idea, The Melvins, and with East Coast threads born of SSD, DYS, Corrosion Of Conformity and Straight Ahead all comparatively woven into their sound. A straightedge hardcore band that confronted racism, sexism and intolerance, both in their lyrical delivery and on stage with ill-mannered show attendees, BROTHERHOOD was a rare band of this scene as they were accepted in all of the subgenres of punk rock and hardcore, even receiving praise in the — at the time — very anti-straightedge publication MaximumRockNRoll, as they did in the many adamant straight edge fanzines of the time. This near universal acceptance can be clearly be attributed to the many years each member of the band had spent previous to BROTHERHOOD in bands, publishing fanzines, booking shows and promoting bands as well as the bands strong desire to buck most trends that came their way and forge something new.

The band was founded in Seattle by Greg Anderson in 1987, who recruited former False Liberty drummer Victor Hart, friend Ken Hagel on bass and East Coast transplant and Open Your Eyes fanzine editor, John White on vocals. After years as a singer in False Liberty and Inner Strength, Greg picked up the guitar and started writing songs built upon those previously mentioned influences. Following local shows and the opportunity to open for such legends as Youth Of Today, Angry Samoans and Fugazi, BROTHERHOOD began to gain recognition on a much wider scale in the hardcore community. This initial lineup was not to last, as in 1988, Ron Guardipee Of Hateful Youth took over on vocals and Nate Mendel of Diddly Squat joined on bass. Having played many times together in their previous bands things quickly came together for this new and much more solid BROTHERHOOD lineup and in November of that year the Music Bank recording session was conducted. Debuting this new lineup on the Pushead curated Thrasher Magazine’s Skate Rock Vol. 7 compilation BROTHERHOOD soon also released their “Of Friends” demo, their “No Tolerance For Ignorance” 7” on Skate Edge Records and “Words Run… As Thick As Blood!” 7” on CR Records, all released in 1988 and 89. Playing throughout the Northwest as well as a North American tour with quite possibly the bands biggest influence Seattle’s The Accused, by the end of 1989 BROTHERHOOD came to an end. Their relatively short-lived run went on to inspire many of the seminal bands that have followed in Hardcore and Straight Edge such as Undertow, Unbroken, Champion, No Tolerance and many more.

Members of BROTHERHOOD have posthumously forged numerous other musical endeavors including but by no means limited to Christ On A Crutch, Sunny Day Real Estate, Foo Fighters, Resolution, Digh Down, Burning Witch, Engine Kid, Sunn O)) and Goatsnake.

Bowl Ethereal

Bowl Ethereal is Pen Rollings (Honor Role, Breadwinner, Loincloth) – drums/ deconstruction/ arrangement. and Brian Metz – guitar/bass/ production. Crushing mathematical metallic skull in vice grip destruction.

BL’AST!

As far as stories of lost and found recorded material go, few tales can be told like this – where remarkably, all the pieces of the puzzle come together in fortunate ways, resulting in a brand new recording that surprised even the band themselves!

BL’AST! – A concise history…

Having formed in 1982, the highly influential Santa Cruz hardcore legend: BL’AST! released their first album, The Power of Expression in 1985. This debut album completely blew everyone away and went on to become one of the highly sought after, “must- have” hardcore albums from the 80s’.

BL’AST! were beyond intense, continually pushing the boundaries of hardcore with their advanced musicianship, unstoppable energic delivery and explosive live performances. This overwhelming power caught the attention of SST records, who released the band’s second album, It’s In My Blood in 1987. Their third album Take The Manic Ride, was then released in 1989.

BL’AST!‘s wide-eyed, ambitious approach and intense perserverance became an influence for many bands to come. Shortly after the release of Take The Manic Ride the band broke up and their story was buried by time and dust….UNTIL NOW!

A miraculous discovery…

Earlier this year BL’AST! guitarist, Mike Neider contacted Southern Lord with news that he had found some mysterious old BL’AST! master tapes in a abandoned storage locker. Greg Anderson, fanatical about BL’AST!, wasted no time in sending the tapes to a studio to be baked. Needless to say, after 25 years gathering dust, the quality had deteriorated. Even when the tapes had been baked, nobody could have anticipated what would follow. With the tapes baked and audio digitised, Southern Lord contacted long time BL’AST! fiend, Dave Grohl about mixing this recording, his response was an enthusiastic “FUCK YEAH!, LETS DO THIS”!

Whilst inside Grohl’s famous 606 Studios (and with the Neve console as featured in the recent Grohl produced documentary ‘Sound City’) a remarkable discovery was made – a completely unheard, unreleased BL’AST! recording session from the mid-80s.

The lineup of the band at the time of the recording included second guitarist William Duvall (from Neon Christ & interestingly now the vocalist for Alice In Chains) who had moved from his hometown of Atlanta out to Santa Cruz on a tip from mutual friends, Corrosion of Conformity to join the band. Unfortunately his tenure with BL’AST! was short-lived and no recordings from that lineup were ever released.

From the thunderous bass intro of “Only Time Will Tell” to the apocalyptic warnings of “Its In My Blood” the album completely rips and rages from start to finish. All parties involved were completely amazed at how vibrant, unique and new the material sounded.

All things considered, it is miraculous that this record survived it’s journey and that everyone who was involved in bringing this recording to life, could be. Everything fell into place, when it could have easily crumbled along the way. This record is a time capsule that is meant to be heard!

There is no doubt in our minds that Blood will be a crucial purchase for any current Hardcore fiend as well as punk/hardcore fans who loved the band back in the day.

Black Cobra

Smashing up from the Bay Area underground, Black Cobra is ready to take the heavy music world by storm! Formed in 2002 by Rafa Martinez (Acid King, -16-) and Jason Landrian (ex-Cavity) this duo has been laying waste to audiences, taking on all comers, and leaving the remains to rot in their wake. Their sound is a crushing mix of High On Fire-tinged stoner metal and Buzzov*en’s Southern-fried sludge, with a heaping dash of Melvins-style drone to wash it all down.

The two piece is the product of years of work between Jason and Rafa. Both originally from Miami, Florida, work started on Black Cobra while home visiting parents over the holidays. This lead to the trading of a series riffs through the mail and visits to each others residences in NY and LA for sporadic practices. The year 2004 saw the release of a raging 3 song demo maxing out at a whopping 6 minutes in length. The year 2006 saw the release of the 11 song goliath that is Bestial followed by relentless touring in America and Europe. In 2007, the band relocated to San Francisco and released their second album Feather & Stone taking the band to Japan for the first time and again touring Europe and America extensively.

Live they are a beast like no other. Like their namesake, Black Cobra is at once hypnotic and whip-crack fast. Their two-man assault sinks its fangs into you before you even know what’s hit you. They are a touring machine, having hit the streets with everyone from High on Fire, The Sword, and Saviours to Torche and Genghis Tron. Booked by Tone Deaf Booking (Kylesa, Weedeater, Slough Feg), they don’t plan on slowing down yet.

After releasing their two incredibly well-received full lengths on At A Loss Recordings, Black Cobra has taken their rightful place atop the metal throne as the latest signing to the true home of all things heavy – SOUTHERN LORD! Their first Southern Lord release, Chronomega, finds them treading in familiar territory; working with the sound that won them raves from fans and critics alike, while refining it to its sharpest point. No longer just another blunt object, Black Cobra’s music is now a razor-sharp weapon and a true force to be reckoned with. Produced by Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep, High on Fire), Chronomega is one of the heaviest records of ’09 or, for that matter, any year! It is a raging slab of pure, unadulterated heaviness.

Black Breath

“Slaves Beyond Death” is the 3rd full-length from the new kings of Seattle Death Metal: Black (FUCKING) Breath. Like its predecessors, this album was recorded by Kurt Ballou (High on Fire, Nails, Baptists, Converge) at his infamous God City studio in Salem, MA. The heathens of the Breath have taken a decidedly more sick and evil sonic direction with their latest burnt offering. They have effectively and efficiently ripped off their old skin and left us with a more grotesque, rotting corpse of PURE filthy Death Metal. Bid farewell to any good time hardcore, punk or retro thrash vibes. Its all putrid stench and bile vomited up by THEE best current DM band that currently rages. This music ain’t pretty but neither are you.

Suit up, strap it on and get ready to get pummeled!

BIG|BRAVE

With the initial seeds planted in 2012, with no other goal than simply experimenting with the instruments in their possession, Robin Wattie and Mathieu Ball started writing subtle ambient/minimalistic folk songs together. When long time friend Louis Alexandre Beauregard joined on drums, the goal still remained to play as tranquil as possible. After an incident where Wattie’s acoustic guitar broke, and having borrowed a friend’s electric as a replacement, larger amps that Ball had in storage from previous bands started to get incorporated to the outfit. Now with amplitude as a compositional tool, BB never lost interest in the power of minimalism and fragility. It became clear that loud volume would become just as effective as the lowest possible ones and the juxtaposition of both would become something BB still uses as their main MO to this day.

After self-releasing Feral Verdure in 2014, the band had the opportunity to open for Thee Silver Mt Zion in Montreal QC. After which, Efrim Manuel Menuck found something meaningful in the members and the band and invited them to open on future shows with Mt Zion and with Godspeed! You Black Emperor.

In 2015, the band entered the studio with Menuck and recorded “Au De La”. With no home for the record, they decided to take a chance in writing to Southern Lord. As luck would have it, Greg Anderson happened upon their email among hundreds and responded. Since then, the band has had a home with Southern Lord Records. (Along with Au De La, Southern Lord has released Ardor in 2017, A Gaze Among Them in 2019 and VITAL in 2021).

After Beauregard’s departure in 2018, the band traveled down to Rhode Island with Loel Campbell on drums to make a first record with Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets. After the album’s release, with Campbell unable to tour, Tasy Hudson joined the ranks and the band spent most of the year touring their 2019 album “A Gaze Among Them”.

In 2020, the core trio of Ball, Wattie and Hudson once again made the trek down to Machines with Magnets to record their 5th LP “VITAL”.

Battalion Of Saints

Baptists

photo credit: Ryan Walter Wagner

Vancouver Canadas’ Baptists lay down absolutely unrelenting, chaotic, punishing hardcore. This is the band debut album and we guarantee it will completely flatten you. Brutal yet cathartic.

This rages with an intense urgency that immediately grabs you by the throat and effectively kicks your ass! Following a highly revered and sought after 7” on Southern Lord circa 2011 the band took to the road and built a strong buzz in the underground scene via their vicious live shows. They destroyed at several of the Power of the Riff events over the last few years as well as other high profile shows in Canada.

They spent a good part of 2012 vigilantly writing material for their first full-length release. They traveled to Salem, Mass. to record at Godcity studios with Kurt Ballou. There really is noone who is doing a better job at effectively capturing this kind of music these days. The result is a dark, seething non stop battering. The drumming on this is without question some of the best that there has ever been.

This is a band completely firing on all cylinders and laying waste to everything in their path.