Mar 022022
 

(Our friend Gonzo has shown up with reviews and streams of four February 2022 releases that hit the spot for him.)

February. What a dull, useless month.

That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway, to justify the fact that the end of this month ambushed me, causing this column to be late. As long as we’re assigning blame, my day job is also a culprit.

Enough of that, though. This month saw the release of some albums I can’t stop listening to. And many of them were a complete surprise. Continue reading »

Nov 032015
 

Bevar Sea-Invoke the Bizarre

 

(In this post Grant Skelton reviews the new album by India’s Bevar Sea.)

Bevar Sea are from Bangalore, Karnataka, in India. They formed in 2010 and the following year released two demos (Trendslaughter Sessions and Sessions Of Chaos). Those demos, which included covers of Kyuss, Sleep, and Black Sabbath, saw the band gain a following among doom fans worldwide. In 2012 the band recorded an album with Billy Anderson, whose more recent work includes Pallbearer’s Foundations Of Burden and Agalloch’s The Serpent & The Sphere.

Bevar Sea’s self-titled 2012 release led their popularity to spread even further as they played shows with Anathema and Kreator. In 2013 Rolling Stone India awarded Bevar Sea the title of “Best Emerging Band.” Continue reading »

Jul 092014
 

Jurgen of Absent/Minded

(Today our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks begins a six-part series in which he puts the same five questions to doom bands from around the world, and introduces us to their music at the same time.)

Sometimes I use this unpopular “quiz” format because there are too many interesting bands that I would like to bring to light, and in my opinion it’s a good way to spread some news and to get new points of view on a few issues (including even some political questions). So here’s the first part of our Doom Quiz, and the list of questions I put to the bands is below:

1. What is the band’s latest news and what are your plans for the near future?

2. What do we get (in the broadest sense) from the release of your last album?

3. What is the best response that your band has ever received?

4. What role does the church (or any other religious organization) play in your life or (let’s take it wider) in the life of the heavy scene? Is there any spiritual, religious, or antireligious component in your songs?

5. What does the Media in your country tell about the situation in Ukraine? And how do you view that situation? Some people from other countries have asked me strange questions about Russia’s policy, and let me say that I have a few friends in Ukraine and my colleagues have relatives there, and believe me, there’s no media in ANY country that is showing the problem as it really is. We can watch as the Cold War turns into real warfare.

Today, we bring the answers to these questions from Absent / Minded (Germany), Arc Of Ascent (New Zealand), Bevar Sea (India), Byl Zamechen (Ukraine), and Conan (Great Britain). Continue reading »