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Review of The Obsessed at the Black Cat

Last night, Friday the 13th of May 2016, the old school local stoner band The Obsessed “reformed” at the Black Cat to kick off their comeback headlining tour. This isn’t the same line up of The Obsessed that performed at Maryland Deathfest XI in 2013, only Wino remains from that line up. In fact until recently this version of The Obsessed had been the latest incarnation of Spirit Caravan. Dave Sherman stuck around on bass and shared vocal duties in this version of The Obsessed (he had only played with Wino in Spirit Caravan before) however this was drummer Brian Costantino’s first show with the band under either name. The Obsessed might more aptly be called Spirit Obsessed or some other similar mash up as their set list consisted of both Spirit Caravan and The Obsessed classics.

The opener for the show is a personal favorite of mine, Karma To Burn. They’re from the hills of West Virginia and play a very catchy style of rock/metal somewhere between desert rock and stoner with a big helping of that mountain folk twang added. They are almost exclusively an instrumental band and their songs are simply titled numerically in the order they are written. I’ve seen them several times and despite line up changes they were as tight as ever with those catchy hooks and riffs that go up and down all night. They were a great band to start this show off.

Karma To Burn

The next band was Atomic Bitchwax, a more traditional stoner band from New Jersey. People seem to go crazy for this band but I’ve got to say they were my least favorite of the night. They had some cool riffs and grooves throughout but the bass was really muddy and the songwriting didn’t put all those cool parts together as well as some bands do. Stoner metal isn’t the hardest music in the world to play so songwriting ability really sets the top tier bands apart, unfortunately these guys just aren’t there. They weren’t terrible though, they definitely had some energy on stage, but by the time they were done I was ready for something else.

Atomic Bitchwax

That something else came in the form of this new version of The Obsessed. I had seen Wino and Dave Sherman perform as Spirit Caravan at Hardywood Brewery in Richmond, Virginia back in October of 2015. While I had a great time at the show they played for two hours plus and by the end it was just too much Spirit Caravan for anyone but the most die hard of fans. However at the Black Cat the newly dubbed The Obsessed played a much tighter set with more cohesion. The mix of songs by both bands was a cool change up and the set was about 1 hour and 10 minutes or so, keeping it from going on too long.

Wino with The Obsessed

The Obsessed songs have a bit more energy than Spirit Caravan, some of the drum beats are almost punk rock in nature and many of the songs are upbeat. This makes sense considering The Obsessed was originally playing around the area during the rise of the DC punk scene. In fact it was Ian MacKaye that introduced Wino to the guys in Saint Vitus years ago. Anyways, The Obsessed played an excellent set that kept the audience hooked all night. I even got video footage of a brand new song, “Be The Night,” that Wino said would be on an upcoming album. Apparently the band has played this song as Spirit Caravan before but I guess it is one of The Obsessed’s songs now. I hadn’t planned on writing a review of this show but it was just too damn good to ignore. This was the start of a long tour for them, it was fitting that it kicked off here in DC. I left super pumped and I can’t wait to see them again.

The Obsessed

I’ve posted a few videos below of The Obsessed (including the new song “Be The Night”) and at the end a photo of their set list.

The Obsessed – Be The Night

The Obsessed – Freedom

The Obsessed – Sacred (Spirit Caravan)

The Obsessed – Skybone

The Obsessed Set List 5-13-16

May 14, 2016
Categories: Black Cat, Concert Reviews, Doom Metal, Local Band Info, Stoner, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: Atomic Bitchwax, Black Cat, Karma To Burn, Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed, Wino . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 1 Comment

Sleep ticket give away

Sleep at the 9:30 Club

We promised two great contests this week and now here’s the second one! The masters of stoner metal riffage, Sleep, are going to be making a rare appearance in Washington DC on Sunday, June 26th at the 9:30 Club and you don’t want to miss it! We’re going to give one of you lucky DCHM readers the chance to win a free pair of tickets to this sure to sell out show. To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite stoner band of all time is. At 5pm EST on Monday, April 4th, 2016, the contest will end I’ll pick a winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for just $30 here.

Sleep is known for their incredible ability to summon a very Black Sabbath vibe through some of the fuzziest stoner riffs out there! Guitarist Matt Pike spends most of his time in High On Fire these days and this Sleep “tour” only includes 7 North American dates, so getting to see Sleep in DC is a rare thing indeed, something that hasn’t happened in a decade. The the opener for this show is a perfect choice! Richmond based Windhand play some of the catchiest slow riffs in the modern doom metal world which blend perfectly with vocalist Dorthia Cottrell’s haunting voice. Now check out these videos of the bands below while you tell me in the comments what your favorite stoner band is!

Sleep – Dragonaut

Windhand – Orchard

March 31, 2016
Categories: Contests, Doom Metal, Nightclub 9:30, Stoner . Tags: 9:30 Club, Sleep, Stoner Metal, Windhand . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 33 Comments

DC Brau 5th Anniversary Concert Ticket Give Away

If you’ve ever been to one of our heavy metal nights at a brewery then you definitely know that we here at DC Heavy Metal love craft beer almost as much as we love metal! When DC Brau announced that their 5 year anniversary celebration was going to be an outdoor metal show we started counting down the days! On Saturday, April 16th the parking lot area at the brewery is going to be fenced off and a stage is going to be set up with a killer line up including The Sword, Kvelertak, Torche, Serpent Throne and locals Loud Boyz. In addition, the brewmasters at DC Brau have teamed up with the brewers at 5 different breweries to make 5 special collaboration beers just for this anniversary show! We hope you are as excited about this line up of excellent bands and beers as we are and so we’re doing a special give away for this one. One of you lucky DCHM readers will get a pair of general admission tickets to this very event and another one of you with even better luck is going to be getting a pair of VIP tickets to the event (you must be 21 or older to win the VIP tickets)! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me which band you’re most excited to see at this show (if you don’t know any of them check out the videos at the bottom of this post). On Friday, March 25th at 5pm EST the contest will close and I’ll pick two winners at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries. The first winner will get the pair of general admission tickets and the second winner will get the pair of VIP tickets. If you are under 21 please specify so because I will not be giving the VIP tickets to a minor but you can still win the general admission tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from a selected winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random.

And what exactly do the tickets get you? The general admission tickets will get you into the event where you can watch all of the the bands perform, buy beer and food and generally have a great time. The VIP tickets include all of that as well as access inside the brewery for a VIP-only bar, catered barbecue, complimentary unlimited beer, and guaranteed access to all the collaboration brews. If you don’t want to wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this then you can purchase tickets either at the 9:30 Club box office (to avoid fees) or online from Ticket Fly for $45 (GA) or $200 (VIP) here.

Now, here’s a little bit more about the bands and those special collaboration beers. The Sword is a groovin’ doom metal band from Austin, Texas, and they’ll be headlining this show. Kvelertak is a high energy rock/metal band from Norway that incorporates elements of punk and black metal into a unique sound that is all their own and they’re known for their wild live shows. Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, and they call their heavy yet catchy music thunder pop which actually makes perfect sense when you hear them. Serpent Throne is an instrumental stoner band from Philadelphia and they’ve got a ton of sick riffs. Loud Boyz are a local party rock band that formed from the ashes of the party thrash band Warchild. That’s a pretty sweet line up, but lets not forget those 5 exclusive collaboration beers. Cigar City in Tampa, Florida is known for making one of the best stouts in the world, Hunahpu Imperial Stout, so I’m pretty excited to see what kind of big stout they’ve cooked up with the DC Brau guys, a beer they’ve named The Wise And The Lovely. Alexandria brewery Port City‘s collaboration with DC Brau produced a dunkel, which is a German style dark lager (dunkel is the German word for dark) and while it won’t be a heavy as the aforementioned stout this beer, Zehn von Zehn, will surely be quite refreshing. They aren’t all dark beers though, for example the collaboration with Sun King in Indianapolis, Indiana is a double IPA brewed with rye and named Ripa the Dipa. The collaboration with Austin Beerworks in Austin, Texas is an India style lager (so expect it to be more hoppy than most lagers) named Celestial Garden. Last but not least the collaboration with St. Louis based Perennial Artisan Ales is a Belgian style saison with rose hips and hibiscus added to give Pink Pallet Jack a pink hue.

OK I know I’ve been more wordy on this post than my contests usually are but there’s a lot of info for this event! If you’d like even more info you can check out the official Facebook event page for it here or go read DC Brau’s announcement post here. Now check out these videos below and tell me which band you’re most excited to see on April 16th at DC Brau’s 5th Anniversary Celebration!

The Sword – Tres Brujas

Kvelertak – Blodtørst

Torche – Healer

Serpent Throne – Wheels Of Satan

Loud Boyz – FYK

March 21, 2016
Categories: Contests, Doom Metal, Stoner . Tags: Beer, DC Brau, Kvelertak, Loud Boys, Serpent Throne, The Sword, Torche . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 84 Comments

Bongzilla ticket give away

Bongzilla at the Metro Gallery

Pack some Visine with your ear plugs this weekend because Bongzilla is headlining the Metro Gallery on Saturday, October 24th (that’s this coming weekend). To help you stoner metal fans motivate for this show we’re going to give away a free pair of tickets the show! To enter: leave a comment on this post telling me what you favorite stoner metal song of all time is (I’m half expecting all entries to be Dopesmoker by Sleep) and this Thursday, October 22nd at 5pm EST a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to receive two tickets to the show! Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. Please do not enter if you are under 18 because this show is for ages 18+ only and winning tickets from me will not get you past the door guy asking to see your ID. If you can’t wait to see if you win, or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from right now for $20 from Ticket Fly here.

Bongzilla is a Madison, Wisconsin based stoner metal band that has been pretty quiet for the past 10 years. They’ve been added to next year’s Maryland Deathfest bill but you don’t have to wait until May to see Bongzilla play live! If you’re into stoner metal then you don’t want to miss the return of Bongzilla to our area this weekend! In addition, there’s some great stoner/doom local bands on the bill as well including Baltimore’s own Corpse Light, Slagstorm from Hagerstown (featuring members of Fortress) and Northern Virginia based Foehammer, who you may remember played the DCHM holiday party last year. Now check out these sweet songs by the bands on the bill and let me know what your favorite stoner metal song is.

Bongzilla – Grim Reefer

Corpse Light

Slagstorm

Foehammer – Stormcrow

October 20, 2015
Categories: Contests, Doom Metal, Metro Gallery, Stoner . Tags: Bongzilla, Contest, Corpse Light, Foehammer, Slagstorm, Stoner Metal . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 8 Comments

Goatsnake ticket give away

Goatsnake at the Black Cat

Metal fans are not going to want to miss Goatsnake when they make a rare East Coast appearance at the Black Cat on Wednesday, October 14th, 2015. We’re so excited for this show that we’re going to be giving away a free pair of tickets to this show to one of you loyal DC Heavy Metal readers! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite stoner, doom or sludge metal band is. At 5pm EST this Friday, October 9th, a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to receive two tickets to the show! Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win, or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from right now for $15 from Ticket Fly here.

Goatsnake is from Los Angeles and features members of bands like The Obsessed and Sunn O))). Goatsnake have made a name for themselves with their blend of southern rock and doom metal and this summer they released their first album in 15 years, Black Age Blues, and it rips! They have a high energy live show but they rarely make it to the East Coast to play live so you don’t want to miss this rare chance to see them right here in Washington, DC, one of just three of their East Coast dates. Also on the bill is YDi (pronounced Why Die), a reformed old school hardcore band that started in Philadelphia in the 80s. The opener is Big ‡ Brave from Montreal, Canada, and they play a strange experimental style of metal. Now check out these videos of the bands playing the show and let me know what your favorite doom, sludge or stoner metal band is in the comments!

Goatsnake – Elevated Man

YDi – Black Dust

Big ‡ Brave – On The By – And – By And Thereon

October 5, 2015
Categories: Black Cat, Contests, Doom Metal . Tags: Big ‡ Brave, Big/Brave, Black Cat, Contest, Goatsnake, YDi . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 23 Comments

Review of The Felon’s Claw by Ilsa

Band: Ilsa
Album: The Felon’s Claw
Release Date: 5 May 2015
Record Label: A389 Recordings
Buy digital ($5) or CD ($8.99) or 2x 12″ vinyl ($29.99) on Bandcamp: Here
Buy various bundles with merch from A389’s web store: Here

Cover of The Felon's Claw by Ilsa

Washington DC based crusty death/doom band Ilsa has a new album coming out on Baltimore based label A389. DCHM writer Buzzo Jr has written the following review of The Felon’s Claw to give you all the details about the new full length from one of my favorite area bands. As usual we’ve got a couple of songs streaming at the end of the post so give them a listen while you read!

Lets get this out of the way quick: No, you’re not the only person who is immediately reminded of Spinal Tap’s infamous and fictional Smell the Glove album when looking at the cover art for The Felon’s Claw. However, the fourth full length from DC’s Ilsa sounds nothing like everyone’s favorite fake British band, but is instead full of Ilsa’s signature crust soaked doom metal.

Ilsa is well known for mixing death/doom, with crust punk and d-beat; their previous outputs often alternating between slow doomy passages with one song and then going into frantic punk influenced tracks for the next one. On The Felon’s Claw however, the faster punk influenced tracks are more rare, with only “Oubilette,” “Buried in the Bedrock and Concrete of Our Cities,” and “Armstrong’s Mixture” venturing into full on crust punk territory. The remaining 7 songs are all sludgy doom tracks, with “Katabasis” clocking in at almost 9 minutes. The slow, sinister mood and heavy riffs in these tracks combined with the harsh, high range vocals are sometimes reminiscent of Salome; another great doom band from the DMV area that unfortunately broke up in 2011. I find that I like Ilsa’s faster tracks a bit more than the slower paced songs on this album, since they are packed with much more aggression and energy. Their death metal influences are also more prevalent on the faster tracks, blending perfectly with the punk inspired d-beat drumming. Not to say that the slower tracks aren’t any good; quite the contrary actually. What they lack in speed they greatly make up for in crushing heaviness. A favorite of mine among these slower tracks is “Pandolpho,” which is actually a reimagining of a hymn written by Robert Parsons back in 1572. On this track, the band puts their crust and doom influence into a single song; starting off at a slow steady pace and then erupting into a much faster section in the middle, and finally slowing back down to a dirge-like speed at the end.

Tim Moyer and Brendan Griffiths’ guitar work on the album is great; their mammoth tone establishing the murky atmosphere of the album and their grimy riffs chugging away, hammering the listener into submission. Large amounts of harsh feedback flows in the background, following the example of sludge bands like Eyehategod and Acid Bath. Sharad Satsangi’s basslines follow the guitars perfectly, adding even more power and filth to the mix and chugging in unison with the twin axes. Orion Peter’s vocals are as intense as they’ve ever been as well, with his tortured, painful howls penetrating through the riffs and feedback to create a sense of misanthropy and hopelessness. Orion utilizes his harsh vocals perfectly, causing a great contrast between the low end riffs and his higher range screams. Josh Brettel’s drums unfortunately don’t sound as thick and powerful as the rest of the instruments do, which is a pity seeing as they are incredibly heavy and pounding when Ilsa perform live. That being said, Josh’s drums do get the job done providing thudding beats to complement the riffs and vocals, at some points overcoming the lesser production and sounding utterly bombastic on some of the much slower tracks such as “Smoke is the Ghost of Fire.”

Ilsa’s newest offering is a filthy chunk of crusty death/doom, packed full of great riffs and screams. If you’re looking for a record to play in your dingy basement for a seedy get-together with various lowlives, you won’t find a better one than this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kc5TlHwgc0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuBt1ufVrH0

May 1, 2015
Categories: Album Reviews, Doom Metal, Upcoming Album Releases, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: Buzzo Jr, Ilsa, The Felon's Claw . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment