Twingiant's Nikos Mixas's Top Ten Doom Records

Top 10 Doom Albums 

Nikos Mixas (2nd from left)

1. Trouble – Psalm 9

When I think of doom, I immediately think of this album. This is the proverbial bar and blueprint for doom. There’s nothing more to be said on this.

2. Candlemass – Nightfall

This is a close second to Psalm 9. Nightfall has more riffing and leads and that’s the only reason I can’t put it as my top doom album. I have probably listened to this album more throughout my lifetime though.

High Reeper Digs Deaper

We're going to take some time getting to know about the likes and dislikes of some of the bands that are currently out there.

We've got a standard series of questions and we're gonna see how everybody feels. Up first, High Reeper.

1. The first album I ever owned was? 

Kiss Destroyer. I was born in '72 and I had a cousin who was a total head/stoner and was five years older than me. 

When I was five he gave me that record. He turned me on to music and art. I used to stare at that cover and think that those were just about the toughest four dudes I had ever seen.

2. My favorite album of all time is....

Right now? It's the first Black Sabbath record. Everything about it. When I first heard it I couldn't even process it it was so heavy and unlike anything else I had ever heard. 

The playing is so good and is as unpretentious as can be. The guitar and bass playing are off the charts. I love that it was recorded and mixed in a flash and it's just the best record ever.

Video: "Where Did All The Love Go" by The Rebel Light

In the First World, there's little worse than what you're experiencing right now. It's Monday afternoon and you need to finish out the workday.

If you were in the Third World though, they'd probably be harvesting your hair while you work, so let's just be glad we're sitting at a desk instead shall we?

However, you still need something to get you through till three o'clock when popsicle time hits am I right?

So have a short dance with The Rebel Light. This video is a bit on the strange side...and seeing the totally hippied out Mystery Machine...well...just watch OK?

Dead Register On Tour This November

A couple of years ago, an album crossed my desk by a band called Dead Register.

That name doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to be honest with you and if you try to google it, you're going to get results featuring conspiracy theories about the dead voting.

Their album, Fiber, is a strange mishmash of styles and genres.

I'm not even sure it's appropriate to just toss them under the label of metal. All that can be said is that it's a damned fine album. The Georgia trio describe themselves as a Gothic Band....perhaps there's a little bit of Southern Gothic there.

Earlier this year, my wish of having this release on vinyl came true and the splatter version is resting comfortably on the vinyl shelf.

Video: "Trainyards" by Thunder Body

Let's be perfectly honest about some things today.

I love trains. You may recall, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook (click those sidebar links would ya?) that I recently eschewed a two hour flight for a sixteen hour train ride.

Seeing the front picture of this video just made me want to love this song. Certainly, about the last thing I was expecting was a dose of reggae about trains and train yards.

Check it out. Thunder Body'll make you a better person.

LP Review: "Still Innocence" by LUSTRE

Still Innocence

Yesterday, as in the day before this was written, your friend and humble narrator took in his very first session of massage therapy.

You see, there's this pain in my neck that's been going on for some time and it's long past due to be fixed.

Naturally, this was a singular experience for me, but as it was the first time having done it....obviously...

In this stage of my life, I'm attempting to improve the quality of my life. Go to the physician more. Get my physical and mental problems cared for.

So, that was the reason for this session. My neck was creating immense pains shooting down to my fingers. It was scary. So, in the little room, they attempted to play some relaxing sounds in order to quiet my mind and allow relaxation.

Stream: "Doin' It Again" by Honeymoon Disease

All the way from Jolly Old Sweden via The Sign Records comes Honeymoon Disease.

As unpleasant as their name sounds, their music is just that slick. It's kind of like someone found one of those bland and faceless 70's bands that didn't make it, Black Oak Arkansas I'm looking at you, put them in a time machine with a bunch of great Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy albums.

Of course...all this is just downright silly and Honeymoon Disease aren't time travelers... because we all know that Time Travelers only exist in England right now.

Check them out below!

LP Review: "Nostalgia - Archive of Failures - Part I" by Vardan

Nostalgia - Archive of Failures - Part I

Every single night, we all (hopefully all) of us head off into the vast wasteland that is sleep.

The goal is to achieve R.E.M. sleep.

That's the goal.... "For in dreams we enter a world that's entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud."

  --Albus Dumbldore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (really JK Rowling).

R.E.M. sleep is when we receive the rest we so desperately need.

Before we plunge the depths and fly in the stratospheres, there's a waiting room as it were. Languishing in the antechamber is not optional. There is a waiting period. It's one of the cruelest jokes Natural Selection has played on us.....

Video: "Mechanical Gods" by Inverted Serenity

Whenever you feel like beating yourself up, let's instead, suggest, listening to some very extreme metal. Inverted Serenity comes all the way from Winnipeg, MB.

The don't skimp on the cold either. This song lacks basic human warmth. If you were looking for a date, that would be pretty terrible, but with brutal death metal, that's a major plus!

Check it out if you need to crash something.

Video: "The Bible Code" by Lostair

Admittedly, a band's look can hook me just as much as their sound.  In the case of Lostair, they frankly look cool.

Then let's take their track, The Bible Code, which asks the questions about ecumenical politics espoused by Chris Rock's Rufus from the Kevin Smith flick, Dogma.

If this track gets your blood pumping, contact the band on Facebook. You can also preorder the album from Revalve Records by going HERE.

Video: "Here Come" by Anima

Here's a new band from a the brothers Triveño. Hailing from...well I don't know where they are from, but I can tell you that they're something interesting.

Check it out and pay close attention to how the majority of the band has covered faces...the brothers are using special guests to help them move along the plot.

DO NOT MISS THE GENE SIMMONS AXE BASS!

XLP Review: "Droner" by Opium Warlords

Droner

Truth in advertising...is this even a saying anymore?

How many times have you watched a commercial and genuinely believed that they were telling you the truth?

What about movie trailers?

Seriously, what's up with these things where you check out a trailer and it looks amazing so you buy a ticket.

But then after you've spent forty five minutes watching commercials, movie trivia, and a bunch of other misleading previews, your movie comes on...

And it has nothing to do with what you paid to see? I don't understand that at all. Wouldn't it be better for the proper audience to go to a movie rather than a misled gentry who's only going to blast that flick on the internet afterwards?

LP Review: "Songs of Snark & Despair" by Seth Kibel

Songs of Snark & Despair

The call from the Right Wing of American Politics for years has been that artists, Hollywood Actors, and musicians should refrain from speaking about politics.

Then racists from Duck Dynasty, has been rockers like Ted Nugent, and pedophiles from reality shows have become hangers on and GUESTS at The State of the Union by Republican Congressmen.

In the truest height of hypocrisy, after hearing for eight years about how President Obama was too inexperienced to be the leader of the free world, the Republicans nominated and the Electoral College, with some help from Vladimir Putin, installed a man who's greatest accomplishment was being a game show host as President of the United States of America.

Video Premiere: "Flaming Earth (Official Lyric Video)" by Cortex Complex

While you're enjoying your tea and coffee, take a moment to see where this world is going.

Imagine the year is 2177 and we continue to tread the path we're treading now.

Cortex Complex would like to show it to you. Their new album, Memoirs of an Apocalypse, drops on 11/24. You can also check out their previous, fully instrumental, record on Bandcamp.

Video: "A Bridge To Further Realms" by Flames of Genesis

There's an album that's coming out in a few weeks by Flames of Genesis.

They're an ambient band of some sort. Minotauro Records is releasing this might slab of well, I'm not precisely sure what to call it. It's a little bit of everything yet none of any of it.

Reviewing this album would be next to impossible for me. So, in turn, I'm asking you to spend about seven minutes of your life with this "song."

Stream: A.N.U.S. by Nihiloceros

Brooklyn based rockers, Nihiloceros are gearing up for the release of their debut EP.

Currently on tour in Canada, but you can check out their first single right, A.N.U.S., right here. Normally, I wouldn't be taking on a single with such a title, but there's a story  here.

Mike Borchardt detailed a conversation about the title being a play on NU Metal, as it was "Another NU Song." The only problem is that this conversation never took place.

He imagined the whole scenario and the title has stuck.

Enjoy!

Stream: "the only reason you want to go to california is that it's the closest thi..." by dreambeaches

Sometimes the anger and the frustration becomes all too much.

There are times when Mighty Tacos, Stinger Pizzas, and University of Buffalo hockey all just come to the fore and .... well clearly I'm reminding myself of my trips to the great city of Buffalo, NY, coincidentally (not really) That's where our new friends, dreambeaches, are from.

Check out a few of their tunes below from their latest release, Disapearing Act.

LP Review: "Time" by StoneBirds

Time

Let's have a very silly conversation for just a moment, if you don't mind.

What's the most important thing you can take away from music?

There are so many different types of music that can take the listener into all sorts of places. In This Modern World, the mash up has been taken to the next level.

This past weekend, we attended the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's Family Concert and they mashed up athletics and music.

Does a strong tempo and rhythm make a song magnificent to you? What about the spaciousness of of progressive music? Does tightly packed metal and hard rock create the ultimate experience?

Video "The Theory of Shadows" by The Modern Age Slavery

Modern Metal in 2017.

We are living in an age when anger is more than palpable. In times like this we all need to check ourselves and find a way to relax.

The best way is to push out the negative energy via totally Brutal metal. The Modern Age Slavery has just dropped a painful new track and video.

Check it out below.

Video: "Ferocious: by Lauren Lakis

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Tupac Shakur said in 1996 that things were getting boring and it was time to shock the people. Then Kiss came out for the first time in their full gear. It had been 17 years at that point for those particular four men.

Lauren Lakis has chosen to follow in the steps of Shakur. Her new album is full of Electric Doom Folk.

The Baltimore native has lots to say and she hopes you're listening.

LP Review: "Terraforming" by Jupiterian

Terraforming

One of the greatest songs of great songs....we all know it... We've all been subjected to its whims.

Stairway To Heaven.

Robert Plant once said in an interview that he had no idea why it was so popular. There were no verses, choruses, and such. It's a bit of a formless song.

It's more of a poem accompanied by music.

On the whole rest of the album, and the preceding, Led Zeppelin really expanded what a rock band could be. There were no longer any boundaries left to cross. Well sort of.

In the end, it's easy to come back to the question...what makes something a song? What makes a series of noises music?

Stream: "The Wheel" by Lovely Dark

Check out a new band by the name of Lovely Dark.

They hail all the way from Minneapolis, MN, the Twin Cities as it were. They've got a unique sound and they're not afraid to push the envelope well past established boundaries.

Once that's done, they even have the gall to take it to the post office with only one stamp on!

Check out their single below. They can be found on Bandcamp.

Interview: Amos and Cody of Death of Kings Break Silence on Mass Destruction Fest

Glacially Musical: Please give us some background on Mass Destruction Metal Festival. How long has it been around? 

When and where will it take place and what types of bands are in the line-up?

Cody: This will be the inaugural year! Putting on a metal festival has been a goal of mine for about a decade, I’d continually find myself thinking about how I could make it happen, which bands I’d like to see, etc. 

It wasn’t until roughly 2 years ago that I approached Amos (who runs A. Rippin’ Production here in Atlanta) about how to put on shows when he asked if I wanted to  collaborate with him on doing this.

We envisioned MASS DESTRUCTION being a beacon for Heavy Metal in the Southeastern U.S. I know Amos was tired of seeing touring bands skip over Atlanta; and I wanted us to offer something for the region so folks who couldn’ttravel very far would be able to experience a metal festival right in their backyard.

This year we focused heavily on Black and Death metal—and tried to do what we could to add some diverse sounding bands within the two genres.

Video: "Hell Moon (We Shall Never Die)" by Eleine

How many different things have told us how small we are? That what we do as humans is frankly unimportant because in the grand scheme of the universe we're smaller than a single atom.

What is rarely explained is though we as individual humans are small, we as cogs in a machine can accomplish a great deal.

The new single from Eleine, Hell Moon (We Shall Never Die) gives me that feeling. This is a band that's able to combine the talents of several members into a huge thing.

Check it out below!

LP Review: "META" by YLVA

META

It came to my attention recently that my record library and listening to those glorious slabs spinning is my mental floss.

Most days of my life, there is a song in my ear at all times.

The difference is that when it's at work, in the car, or even at a concert, it's a different experience than being at home and watching the rotations of vinyl.

Perhaps it's because this is when I'm listening to full albums front to back and track by track.

There's something a bit magical doing that, especially when it's by masters of the format like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, etc. Sadly, front to back albums isn't as much of a thing as it once was.

Certainly there is a time and a place for everything, but there is something that's wonderful about sitting in a room without a TV connection and listening to music.

Video: "Anathema" by Stillborn

Choose your moment.

Now's a great time to check out a band all the way from the remote lands of Gothenburg, Sweden.

They've just dropped their latest lyric video from their album Nocturnals. It's going to be the best Gothicly made Gothenburg metal you'll hear this fortnight.

Stream: "Godsend" by Northless

There are times when we just get into the thick of it. The full on plastered muck of the world we are living in.

Northless would appear to have had enough. Their new record, Last Bastion of Cowardice, is being released on Halo of Flies next month. Per their usual, there'll be two colored editions, and a black edition.

Click play below and preorder the record on bandcamp. Look for the full review next month.

LP Review: "The Fourth Seal" by Pale Horseman

The Fourth Seal

Recently, I took a trip to Minnesota. Going up to the Twin Cities from St. Louis, MO can take a good long time.

That's actually a trip my family has made a number of times. By car, it's ten hours, plane, 3 hours, and by train, it's about 16 hours.

The last one was my favorite mode of travel. It takes longer sure, but the dining car, the observation car, and beer on had just made it wonderful.

It's a hard trip and those long rides can take a lot out of you.

It's important to have something that can take that pain away and just get you moving over the next hump.

Enter The Pale Horseman.

Video: "Serotonin" by Angel Vivaldi Featuring Nita Strauss

Well, days go by and we're not talking about shredsters on the guitar. Instrumental shredders and death metal guys are in the same sphere, because neither of them are going to make any damned money.

They're playing it because they have to. The idea of a purity of motive is strong in me and Angel Vivaldi appears to be strong with the force.

When's the last time you ever saw a hyper dance scene in a guitar video?

It's time...oh Hai Nita! Vivaldi's latest album, Synapse, is out now via Seek and Strike Records.

LP Review: "The Electric Dunes of Titan" by Motherslug

The Electric Dunes of Titan

Recently, your friend and humble narrator was finally able to acquire most of the Monty Python CD Box Set at an Estate Sale.

Now there's a group of people, yes people instead of Englishmen, because Carol Celeveland was a defacto member along with being a woman, and she and Terry Gilliam were Americans.

(It really freaked me out when I learned that Carol Cleveland wasn't British by the way.)

What made the Pythons so amazing was their ability to basically do anything required of them in comedy. Monologues, musicals, feature films, surreal sketches, long form sketches, and at least forty seven other things that have been left out.

But in the end, even though they used every single tool in the Light Entertainment Department of the BBC and often times their work had nothing to do with what they'd done last time, it always rang true as Monty Python, even if the quality may have been lacking.

5 Minute Interview With Hallas

Hallas

Let's check back in with a really cool band from Sweden, Hallas.

These magical metal alchemists gave us a quick rundown of what makes them awesome and apparently it's, Cuban Heels made in Sweden.

This makes me wonder, as I sit in the 18th Century Style Cobbler at Glacially Musical's Fashion Wing...Who made the Cuban Heels The Cat wore on Red Dwarf?

Did the Felis Sapiens make their own clothes or conscript the clothing of the long dead crew? If they were making their own clothes, how did these cats know of Cuban Heels three million light years into deep space?

Food for thought I think.

Video: "This Is Why We Ride" by Body Count

Has it really been over 25 years since Ice-T unleashed Body Count on the world?

Well, decades later, Body Count is both telling stories of what it's like in the parts of the city many of us never see and Grindhouse Violence.

Check out the latest ballad of what's wrong below.

LP Review: "Extraction" by Insurrection

Extraction

Let's talk about something silly today.

On Saturday at my daughter's hockey practice, the team was giving out car decals so the parents can show their pride in their daughters for being on a hockey team.

Now, there's also been a sticker for her school in my car that I paid for back in, well, August.

So, there was a sticker deficit going on. There was already a single sticker on my Toyota Prius.

My Prius, has a Death Metal sticker on it. One that said death metal was chosen over a band's sticker, because, I wanted the people to see my duality. Like The Joker said in Full Metal Jacket. Newer readers will probably notice that not much death metal has been hitting around here though.....

Video: "Savages" by Cranely Gardens

It's time to take a look into the black mirror that we are all avoiding.

See scenes from the United States and the rest of the world in the modern age of division.

Please note, the video is as violent as the song included. This is a hard video to watch. It's one of those things that we all need to watch and look inside.

Check it out below, you've been warned.

Interview: John Steven Morgan

John Steven Morgan

In the not too distant past, the Glacially Musical team met up with Californian, John Steven Morgan, at the Vegan versus Omnivorous Eating Research Lab, Tunnel 15, Room Value Meal #3.

Stevenson is half of the off the beaten trail black metal band Wreche, with Barret Baumgart. We're not here to discuss this strangely pleasing black metal, but his upcoming album, Solo Piano Works.

Ever present but not present is the partnership between these two men, even though Baumgart isn't a part of this project, or interview.

If your first thought of a metaller playing piano on a record away from his band brought up Nigel Tufnel, well then you're not alone.

Check it out!

Video: "Rest Assured" by Broken Stems

It's rare that we get to see the embryonic steps of a band. The song of the day is Rest Assured by Broken Stems. Now, this band has been around for six years, but a period of, well, let's call it a series of unfortunate events, had rocked them in the past year.

So, in the end, only three of the five fellas were around to begin recording. After a time, the singer returned to the fold, but like The Doors, there was no bass.

As of right now, we are  unclear as to who is playing bass on this record, the authorities are seeking out the correct information and we'll update you as soon as these imaginary folks get back to us.

Today, you can enjoy what's left. The fat has been trimmed. The machine has been oiled. It's time to get it working again. Tell them what you think they should do with cacti on Facebook.