Lotek Cruiser "Spirit Vine" - Review

                Today we are sticking close to home and giving you the honest lowdown of “Spirit Vine” by Lotek Cruiser, a Kitchener, Ontario based band that writes, as it was introduced to me, “Doom and Sludge” filled songs. This has the chance to be something new which few bands manage with this style, or something old/boring which a lot of bands manage with this style.

                “Blackheart” kicks off the album with the perfect level of Groove and Sludge blend, taking a page from the books of Crowbar and early Mastodon “Spirit Vine” kicks off on an absolute high point. The first half of the song its mid tempo headbanging destruction, the main riff is absolutely killer and gives the album attitude while the vocals add a level of much needed grittiness. This riff will continue after a small section where the riffs and everything are slowed down and allows the listener to catch their breath.

                “Plotting Forward” is another insanely strong song, this time taking more of a page from a band like Lord Dying but the Crowbar influences are always there. “Plotting Forward” is a bit slower and while the riffs aren’t quite as memorable the vocals in this sound like pure anger and make you want to break something. This song is actually a lot of fun to listen to and just focus in on the drumming, normally with the sound of style Lotek Cruiser have the drums are pretty standard but they stand out in “Plotting Forward” being a bit more experimental and extreme.

                Given it’s a three song EP and i only mentioned two songs you can guess that there’s one weaker one, “Buried Under the Morning Sun” doesn’t quite stand up the way the other two do, but luckily it’s in the middle of the album. With this song in the middle of the album you listen to it and go “yeah alright” then the next song starts and you’ve kind of forgotten about it.

                All in all this is a really strong release from Lotek Cruiser, normally the Doom sound doesn’t really pull me in, but the style of this band and their unique approach to some sounds and the catchy as hell riffing really made it easy to dig. A+ to these guys for releasing something so overly done but making it fresh, I highly suggest anyone and everyone check out “Spirit Vine” by Lotek Cruiser on Bandcamp, there’s something for everyone in these songs.

Click here for Lotek Cruiser's Bancamp

Black Absinthe "Early Signs of Denial" Review

                Here comes an album that I have no idea how to categorise, Black Absinthe and their third album “Early Signs of Denial”. This is an album that incorporates all the old Heavy Metal sounds, some thrash techniques and a bit of Death/Black Metal influences. Let’s go for a ride and see what all this album has to offer, shall we?

                Early on, you’ll find the song “Now”, which features a blend of sounds from The Offspring and Mastodon. The general sound of the song is upbeat, quick pace and has some real punk resemblance, especially in the chorus, but the part that really catches me is the Mastodon sort of screams and rasp added in to make the vocals sound even more aggressive and contrast with the sort of more Rock sounding chorus. After the second chorus and a brief slow down the song kicks it up and really floors it, much quicker Metal pacing and an awesome guitar solo will bless your ears very quickly before heading back into the chorus and yet another Mastodon scream to end it out.

                When “Now” ends it brings the sounds of a chilling wind with it, which will bring us right into the tapping into of “Winter”. Man, this song works,  after the tapping intro, the song slows right down for the verse. Once the song kicks back into gear, the instrumentals get very melodic and heavy, but it’s post chorus that catches me. You get a small glimpse of it early on, but once the instrumentals start that have a marching feel it really gets good, straight Black Metal vocals and a quick great solo. Think of Metallica, but James Hetfield gets inspired by Immortal for a song, that’s kind of what “Winter” is. The song ends out with the tapping guitars again and it leaves a chill right in your bones.

                It’s hard to say exactly what Black Absinthe play, but who cares. “Early Signs of Denial” is an album that pretty much anyone can enjoy, it’s quick, it’s easy to listen to and its awesome. Regardless of whether you like the more Extreme Metal style of vocals or not, there are so many different influences in this one album that you should be able to find something you like. Is in innovating and groundbreaking? No, probably not. Is it awesome, worth a listen and worth checking out? Fuck yes! The band will be playing a CD release show on May 14th at the Coalition in Toronto and if you’re in the area, you’ll want to be there!

75/100

Subscribe to us on YouTube

Like us on Facebook

Like Black Absinthe on Facebook

Buy "Early Signs of Denial"

Interview with Adrenechrome dummer Matt Copeland

Adrenechrome bring a new idea to music, mainly with their outstanding comic book inspired album art. Recently they decided "hey let's release an album" and in doing so were stuck talking to me about its production, the idea behind the art and influences from bands like Mastodon and Baroness! Read what drummer Matt Copeland had to say below!

Hello! How are you?

Hey, very good, thanks.

Tell us a bit about being a metal band from Orillia, I’ve been there and participated in perch fest many times but never heard anything about any metal bands being there.

Ya, we get that a lot. There are actually many great hard/metal acts from Orillia that have been pushing it for a few years now along with ourselves. Our good friends in Starved at the Root and Like Animals have also recently released and are in the process of releasing new music as well. Definitely worth checking out. But, to answer your main question. It’s a little odd sometimes when people ask us where we are from and we say ‘Orillia, Ontario’ They have usually either never heard of it, or can’t believe that anything other than folk music or Gordon Lightfoot have emerged from here

Can you talk a little bit about the album cover? Where did the inspiration for a comic book cover come from?

The inspiration came from the artist who came up with the concept. Our friend Kartigan who goes by the handle ‘Clownbaby’. We had a few idea’s floating around and when he had presented this one in particular with us we knew right away this was the one.

This album also jumps around a bit with lyrics, can you talk about the over lapping theme of the songs?

That’s all our guitarist/vocalist Chris. He didn’t want to stick with just one overall theme for this album. So, I think that’s where we get the maniacal style lyrically on Tales...

You kicked off the anticipation for the album with the single “God Sized Shadow” back in August and the album officially came out at the end of November has the overall reception been good?

The reception has been great! We’ve been getting many reviews that have been putting some pretty big smiles on our faces and we’re getting more everyday. Really exciting.

Now that it’s out and you can’t go back are you happy with the album or do you find bits and pieces where you go “why did i do this?” not to say it’s a bad album of course!

I think we’re always going to have a bit of that, ya know? Even with the last album where we had been playing the songs for much longer we still had certain parts we thought we could’ve done differently. But, I think that goes with being a player in a band in general.

What was writing and recording like? Did everything just fall together or were there struggles here and there?

I found that this one came together pretty quick. We had the tunes finished up and rehearsed the hell out of them for a good month straight then went to the studio. I believe we were in the studio for a total of 4 days and it was done. Pretty quick process.

Fairly standard question but who are your inspirations? I get a huge sense of Mastodon while listening, and I love it because it’s done so well without sounding like a rip off, but there’s also other sounds in there for sure.

We get that one a lot. Haha There is a huge Mastodon and Baroness influence of course. But, there are many, many others as well. We’re all really into Little Feet, Thin Lizzy, Intronaut, Sabbath( Of course), Dave Brubeck and Van Halen... Realistically the list could go on for days.

Tour plans, are there any at the moment? I know you just recently opened up at a show i would have loved to have gone to, Protest the Hero in Barrie, ON.

We did! Yah the Protest dudes are great. We opened for them at the end of our last tour and were happy to get on another bill with them. As for tour, we’re planning on doing an east coast tour in the spring and a west coast tour in the fall.  We’re gonna try to cover the whole stretch of Canada this time.

Last but not least, is there anything you can share with your fans? Hints, sneak peaks, possible announcements?

Big things on the rise for Adrenechrome in 2016 folks! So, stay tuned and keep updated on our social media outlets. www.adrenechrome.com our website will link you to all our outlets and let you know the latest news.

Well, thank you very much for your time! Hope to see you out in the Toronto area soon enough!

Thanks a lot for taking the time to ask these questions. We really appreciate it.