Black Tusk: "Desolation of Endless Times"

Black Tusk is not the only Savannah-based metal band to face vehicular-based tragedy in the last year or so: while their own bass player Jonathan Athon lost his life in a motorcycle accident in late 2014, fellow Georgians Baroness collectively survived a tour bus crash, only for two of their members to have to bow out of the band due to critical spinal injuries afterward. But whereas there is a certain amount of resigned pathos to be found on the latter's new Purple album, Black Tusk come roaring back pissed and looking for a fight as ever on new single, "Desolation of Endless Times".

Earthless: "Violence of the Red Sky"

Here's one to chew your teeth on. Typically when epic doom songs exceeding 10 minutes in length are released as singles, they're edited down into "teaser" mode. Earthless don't play that shit. Here's "Violence of the Red Sea" in all its 15-minute glory, even though it's the kind of hook-based classic rock jam that you could easily see making a logical six minute cut.

Windhand: "Woodbine"

A lot of the stoner doom bands these days are veering in the direction of groove/boogie, so it's nice when you run across another band vying with Yob to win the sheer wall-of-sound sweepstakes. I was going to review their previous, self-titled debut last year, but I kept finding conflicting street dates which indicated it may have just been picked up for wider re-release by a bigger label, so I took a pass. Won't be making the same mistake when Relapse issues Soma next month.

Vista Chino: "Barcelonian"

As much as I hate to say it, if Josh Homme was Kyuss' secret weapon then John Garcia was easily their weak link. I've always found his voice too thin and labored for the kind of bluesy bluster he's going for, so frankly - as long as Queens of the Stone Age was still hitting their mark - an actual Kyuss reunion wasn't something I actively pined for.

I got one anyway... sort of.

Kylesa: "Unspoken"

Well this is new. In a literal sense, of course, but "Unspoken", the first single from Kylesa's upcoming Ultraviolet LP, has kind of a space rock / not-quite drone vibe to it that is kind of a break from the group's usually straightforward stoner sludge. I mean, I've seen this band live more times than just about any other in the last five years and I've never seen a smile on Laura Pleasants' visage even once, so I wasn't expecting anything cheery, but this gratifyingly sees the band evolving beyond their usually straightforward sing-growl-sing template.

You've got a long wait until Ultraviolet proper is unveiled: 5/28 on Season of Mist, bitches.

Clutch: "Earth Rocker"

Not a big fan of lyric videos, as I've espoused many times before, but if they absolutely must exist Clutch is one of the few rock bands where I feel like knowing the words is intrinsic to my enjoyment of the material (*). "Earth Rocker" is pretty punchy but shows the band sliding into a more commercial direction; this is easily the most accessible thing they've released since "The Mob Goes Wild". I wouldn't be too troubled if you prefer Clutch's more esoteric side though: I doubt "Earth Rocker" is any more a signal that the band is chasing a platinum record any more than "The Mob Goes Wild" turned out to be.

(*) Many have put forth the opinion that the lyrics are just an integral part of the song as any other element since it was the artist's intent for you to approach it as a whole... which is kind of hard to argue with, except that most bands write shitty or, at best, merely functional lyrics, so sticking with that philosophy should theoretically downgrade like 80% of the stuff you think is awesome, unless you exclusively listen to poet-songwriters like Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen.

The Sword: "Apocryphon"

Out today - and apparently up early on Spotify as of at least yesterday - Apocryphon is more of the same from Austin's own The Sword. This band has pretty much established themselves by now as Mr. Dependability... those other bands might change but The Sword never will. They're like the Motorhead of uptempo stoner doom. Fuck yeah.

High on Fire: "Fertile Green"

This Phil Mucci guy doesn't fuck around. If psychotronic exploitation movies are metal then this shit right here may just be the most metal video every created. And what better band to underscore the G.O.A.T. metal flick than High on Fire, whose mainman Matt Pike should be getting out of rehab soon, presumably to hang out with Zakk Wylde and reminisce about the good ol' years... what little of them they can remember ("spoken like a true recidivist drunk!", you say; "I don't need metal to get high!", I retort).

Witchcraft: "It's Not Because of You"

If "It's Not Because of You" is any indication, Witchcraft have gone light years beyond their early Sabbath / Sir Lord Baltimore worship and are now right in the thick of Queens of the Stone Age / Jack White solo turf. A bluesy yet melancholy strut underpins the jam friendly riffing, Magnus Pelander's soulful vocals eschewing heavy metal conventions altogether for something more egalitarian, more rock.

Legend is out September 25 on Nuclear Blast. In the meantime head over to Metal Injection for my roundup  of Metal Blade's recent reissue campaign.

Om: "State of Non-Return"

Al Cisneros is back after moonlighting with Shrinebuilder and a Sleep reunion with a return to his day job with Om. "State of Non-Return" wields elements of the Middle Eastern drone used to heavy effect on 2009's God is Good, but it primarily represents what many fans will embrace with open arms: the fuzzy stoner doom that Cisneros cut his teeth on.

Advaitic Songs is out July 24 on Drag City.
[UPDATE 11/1/12: added music video]:

Orange Goblin: "Red Tide Rising"

Orange Goblin are part of the old guard of modern stoner rock and have been at this about as long as anyone, having formed the same year Kyuss broke up (1995). So they're hardly ones to need advice from the newer breed of toked up anklebiters on the scene... yet you can't help while listening to "Red Tide Rising" that the band have spent the five yeas since their last album (Healing Through Fire, 2007) listening to Mastodon and High on Fire. There's a lot of those relatively trebly power chords that regularly break up out of the groove, whereas with traditional stoner rock the tendency is to find a comfortable groove and just sit back in the pocket. Not that this evolution is a bad thing, and truthfully "Red Tide Rising" is one of the better tracks on an album (A Eulogy for the Damned) that frankly could stand to break from tradition a bit more often.

Red Fang: "Hank Is Dead"

Any video directed by a guy who insists on calling himself Whitey McConnaughy has gotta be King Shit, right? He also directed/conceived the last two videos from PDX's Red Fang, and if you've seen either of those you owe it to yourself to complete the trilogy.  I have to assume the loudspeakers-strapped-to-an-old-beater concept is a nod to the Blues Brothers ("that's a lot of entertainment... for two dollars") and it's entirely possible that the Battle of the Bands finale is modeled after the denouement of Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke... at least I like to think that it is.

The Neptune Power Federation: "Wizard Lovin'"

Not that "Wizard Lovin'" isn't a fine tune in its own right, but its the raucous animated video that really puts this over the hump (pun semi-intended but halfheartedly). Neptune Power Federation is from Down Undah so you know they got that boogie-inflected, old school rock thing going.  Otherwise that's all I know about them because they're new as shit and this is their first single.  If NPF was a Twinkie they'd still have like 60 years worth of shelf life on 'em.  As it is this is rock & roll so I give 'em maybe a week.

Mastodon: "Spectrelight"

At the risk of gorilla pimping this band's recent output, here's another ridiculously promising new track from Mastodon's upcoming The Hunter.  For those keeping score, this is the third officially released song from that 13 track album, so by the time September 26th rolls around you should definitely have decided you need it in your life by that point.  Like I said last time around, I'm pretty stoked to hear the more stripped down, balls out rock material coming out of the band, as opposed to the bloated, progressive sound they've been fucking with in recent years.  Tell me why I'm wrong in the comments, otherwise I'll take your silence as tacit consent.

Mastodon: "Black Tongue"

As much as I love when a band edges away from mainstream acceptance and tries something more experimental, more progressive, I have to say I only really appreciated Mastodon's previous effort, Crack the Skye, from more of a cerebral perspective... I never fully embraced it as a repeat listening experience.

Which is why I'm pretty thrilled to hear this new track from their forthcoming The Hunter.  Having proven they can get ponderous with the best of them, it appears Mastodon is finally getting back to their roots a bit, as evinced by both "Black Tongue" (below) and the recent Adult Swim outtake "Deathbound".