Warning (UK) - Watching from a Distance

Here's a fairly recent release from Warning, a depressive UK-based doom band I should have heard of sooner. I have no idea if Swill (creator of this blog and friend of mine) is going to like this, but this is my idea of astoundingly good doom. I've recommended some doom and stoner rock gems to Swill in the past, for example Valkyrie from Virginia (go listen to them), and he's shot them down. He also thinks Asunder sucks and I would call that a stretch. (not true. just said that their albums are boring, which I stand by - swill)

I hope he will enjoy this band if he hasn't heard it cause this is without question the best doom record I've listened to this year. Yes, it came out in 06. Chronic weed smoke means I'm slow on the uptake, why are you judging me? Please forgive me for being slightly behind schedule in faithfully delivering you free music you ungrateful jerk.

The riff proficiency here is clearly top shelf and no internerd out there will convince me otherwise. But what's truly brilliant about this album is the vocals, and I think that's what might hang people up with this band. I won't ruin it for you by describing them too much, but they're unique. If you don't like the vocal performance then I just don't understand you. Personally I am blown away. Few doom bands are this successful at creating an atmosphere so bleak and depressing. Someone on the collective zine board described it as being like "listening to Loss and Red House Painters at the same time."

I'm cursing myself for sleeping on this because every copy seems to be sold out now, including the reissue on Metal Supremacy earlier this year. Fuck... I'm stuck with these mp3s:
http://sharebee.com/2842c251

Om - Splits with Current 93 (2006) and Six Organs of Admittance (2006)

It's no secret that I've been on a serious Om kick ever since their demise earlier this year. Featuring the (achingly slow) rhythm section of Stoner/Doom legends Sleep, Om's music centers around Al Cisneros' droning bass lines and hypnotic chanting, conjuring up mystical imagery that would make Alejandro Jodorowsky proud. This post is intended as a compliment to Anthem of the Space's incomplete discography, rounding out their LP collection with a duet of splits recorded with Six Organs of Admittance and Apocalyptic folk wierdos/legends Current 93. While the Six Organs release seems to be out of print, you can still grab the CD version of 'Inerrant Rays of Infallible Sun' from Jnana Records.

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Moose - Jack EP (1991)

This debut EP from British alt-rockers Moose serves as a four-track microcosm of my oft-conflicted feelings about shoegazer music, alternating between syrupy-sweet early-90s-indie vocals that drive me insane and atmospheric guitar workouts for which I go nuts. Flagship members of The Scene That Celebrates Itself, Moose never got the gushes the music press heaped upon My Bloody Valentine and, to a lesser extent, bands like Ride and Slowdive and, to be completely honest, they didn't deserve to, serving up but a few gems across several EPs and an album before shifting to a more country-influenced style that I've never felt the need to explore. While the vocals on the title track embody some of the scene's worst pop tendencies, I'm never going to be able to say no to some shimmering, multitracked guitar haze, and this record's got it in spades, most impressively on the song 'Boy' posted below. Make sure to stick around for the closer 'I'll Take Tomorrow,' a soft'n'dreamy number replete with ethereal swells and some of the best slow tambourine playing this side of The Velvet Underground and Nico, a definite nominee for most beautiful song to fall asleep to (meant to be a compliment).

allmusic

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Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics... (1996)

The album that took doom metal out of the caverns and into the stratosphere, Electric Wizard's Come My Fanatics is an absolute shit-storm, rumbling through one's bones with enough force in a single riff to induce multiple unplanned trips to the bathroom. If you thought you'd heard an overdriven bass guitar before coming across this album, think again; EW draw from subsonic influences including supernovae, continental drift, and the tortured cries of the imprisoned god Loki to produce a toxic rumble so heavy it will move your subwoofer several feet across the floor. Fusing impossibly fat, smoked-out blues with a Satanic take on the kosmiche style pioneered by bands such as Amon Düül II and Can, Electric Wizard occupy a metalliverse all their own, often copied but never equaled.

For more E-Wiz, including 2000's excellent Dopethrone, check out Anthem of the Space's collection here

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allmusic

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The Klubs - Midnight Love Cycle (1968)

I found out about The Klubs completely by chance, stumbling across their album labeled as that of the "Best Freakbeat band ever," Freakbeat being the psychedelic variant of the Merseybeat sound most famously represented on the Beatles' earliest recordings. While I am hardly enough of an authority to verify this claim, it is hands down one of the best undiscovered gems of the late 60's UK psych scene, a melodic, fuzzy exploration fusing an early rock'n'roll backbeat with spacey vocals and eerie guitarwork. Throw in some of the warmest lo-fi production imaginable and one of the very best cuts of the era ("Can't Ebenezer See My Mind") and you've got yourself an unqualified forgotten classic. The expanded CD edition includes alternate versions and some unreleased tracks from subsequent spin-offs.

Official Website

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edit: I left out Tracks #13-17 - some live versions from a 1999 reunion show - in order to post the album to Sharebee. At your collective request, here they are.