As part of the second wave of nu-metal, Kittie will always be best known for a couple of cult singles from their debut album, ‘Spit’. While one of those tracks, ‘Charlotte’ remains arguably one of their finest recordings, the all-female growlers carved out a career that by the end of 2016 had released six albums and had experimented with various metal-based subgenres. Band founder and drummer Mercedes Lander launched a new band near the end of that year…and on the basis of their first studio recording, The White Swan puts the entire Kittie catalogue in the shade.
Tag Archives: doom
SPACEBEAST – Spacebeast
Imagine what Melvins might sound like if they played in a huge aircraft hanger, its empty space echoing each note and increasing the overall intensity. Or perhaps you took Cathedral and Down LPs and played them back at about 15rpm. That’s kind of the effect that you’ll get from hearing this five tracker from Portland sludge merchants Spacebeast for the first time.
Thrones, Kings, Minos & Rhinos (A Real Gone Sampler)
An important and popular fixture on the Real Gone calendar, the free sampler has offered a broad range of tracks for keen-eared listeners since its inception back in 2010. Usually, the samplers would cover a broad range of music. This year, in line with 2014, we’ve covered so much metal, it needed it’s own free download!
DEATH METAL POPE – Harvest EP
Despite their chosen name, Death Metal Pope aren’t a death metal band. Some of their vocal choices are towards the extreme in places and there are occasions where the riffs step into the fast and intense sphere of extreme metal but, for the bulk of their material, these three Long Islanders love it slow and heavy. At least three quarter’s of 2016’s ‘Harvest’ is a stoner metal fan’s dream. They mightn’t score many points for originality, especially since the clean end of the vocal more than resembles Phil Anselmo in places and the music is very Down-centric, but, make no mistake, the results come close to stoner perfection.
GÉVAUDAN – Litost
With bands like Kurokuma and Allfather making some very heavy waves, the underground doom scene in the UK found itself in a very healthy state moving into the close of 2016, perhaps more properous than it had been in a long while. There seemed to be new doom and sludge bands oozing through the woodwork on a weekly basis, but since the fashion for slow and heavy never gets old, the ever expanding scene had more than enough room to accommodate…and, this, obviously could only be a good thing.