WHAT THE ZELL?

MINSK
THE RITUAL FIRES OF ABANDONMENT
I bought this album simply due to the sticker on it. It said for fans of Neurosis, Isis, and etc. They belong to Relapse which releases some pretty good stuff if you know what you are looking for. In this case it was HEAVY AS FUCK DOOM! I hate how people just stereotype this band as an Isis or Neurosis clone cause they are not. What seperates them from those bands are the tribal beats. I really do believe if it wasn't for the drumming this album wouldn't stand out so much. The beats have a psychedelic feel to them. Not trippy and full of reverb and delay sort of thing but sounding like they came from a 60s album. The riffs are plenty in dynamics and are extremely diverse in what they do. Some moments you have a very clean guitar and then you get a very very heavy guitar tone. The vocals on this album is very clean at times and then others a droning metal yell like Hetfield. The songs are usually 10 minutes and they go all over the place. There isn't a single bad track on this album. If you listen to this album, you will see why the bassist/producer, Sanford Parker, was chosen to be the producer for Nachtmystium's Assassins : Black Meddle Pt 1. He can help achieve very spacey/psychedelic tones like Hawkwind yet make it as heavy as a Randall Dunn album(Boris, Wolves In The Throne Room, Sunn O))) ). (ZELL SABREHAVEN)
RELAPSE RECORDS
www.relapserecords.com, relapse@relapserecords.com, http://shop.relapse.com/artist/artist.aspx?ArtistID=10180, www.myspace.com/minsk

BURIED AT SEA
GHOST
So I drove two hours to Chicago to go see Nachtmystium's Assassins CD release party. So I went there by myself because of stupid friends. I get there and drink a beer and watch the first band. Well after they played I went to the merchandise booth and started talking to the guy working the booth. I recognized him immediately and starting talking to him. He was Sanford Parker. So we started talking about heavy music and shit. Well I complimented him on how good the Minsk album was. So he asked me my opinion on the first which I said I didn't own. He quickly pointed how that he had it in stock with him so I bought it. Next he asked me if I have listened to BURIED AT SEA which I said no. He told me it's heavy drone like Sunn O))) but had the Hawkwind feel of Minsk. Plus it's the band he plays guitar in and sings. So I bought it. Fast forward to later that night. I get home at 2 am and decide to listen to this album. I found it weird that it was 2 seconds short of 30 minutes and it was ONE TRACK. So this is how I can describe it. It drones, it's spacey, and heavy. You won't hear the vocals until 14 minutes into it. It's like a very large classical piece where it builds up to a point and sortof explodes. In this case the explosion is the metal bit otherwise this is an ambient piece. I highly recommend this for people who like stuff that is a bit out there for most people yet want something heavy. Otherwise go back to your radio rock. (ZELL SABREHAVEN)
NEUROT RECORDINGS
www.neurotrecordings.com, customerservice@neurotrecordings.com, www.myspace.com/buriedatsea


AMENRA
MASS IIII
This is a hard album to describe. I think their myspace page describes their sound on simple terms. Down-tempo/Trance/Hardcore yet it's a little complicated from that. You can hear those sounds but it's a little bit more than that. One thing I do like is the religious ties on the album. The songs have a tendency to go into religious bits but instead of sounding happy, it sounds like they mourn religion. "I bare.my arms.now drive your nails through my palms.when we meet.drive those.nails right through my feet.I have given you something real.you thought that you'd never feel." The guitars are deep and sound like most doom metal bands but they have a tendency to play something lighter yet still overdriven. It's somewhat shoegazey at times. I love the sound and the emotion they convey but at the same time I keep getting images of this would be the soundtrack to self mutilation or death. Not a "rest in piece" kind of death but the act of falling from grace. (ZELL SABREHAVEN)
www.hypertensionrecords.com, info@hypertensionrecords.com, www.churchofra.com, www.ritualofra.com, www.myspace.com/amenra

ZOROASTER
VOICE OF SATURN
Ok so I bought this album from the drummer right when they were in Chicago. They played this album live for the show. They were awesome live. So on this album they once again changed their sound. Most doom or sludge bands don't progress much at all, they usually tend to release the same stuff over and over again like most Darkthrone worshiping black metal bands. With Zoroaster, this time they use more Moog synthesizers and such. Vintage analog sounds which are so much better than synths used in this digital age. The first song begins of noodling of a synthesizer. When the second song begins it's some nice midpaced doom with some interesting bits. Near the middle of the song it gets quiet and then a piano and acoustic guitar begins to play. After a few seconds of that they go into a shoegaze moment. A FUCKING SHOEGAZE MOMENT! I love shoegaze so this bit is a great way to end the show. Most of the songs follow the doom metal route that the second song had but they mix it up a bit with the synthesizers and stuff. Another thing that should be mentioned is this album is slightly faster than Dog Magic.(ZELL SABREHAVEN)
TERMINAL DOOM RECORDS
www.terminaldoomrecords.com, terminaldoomrecords@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/thezoroaster