MIND INVERSION

It was only 233 years ago that the church bells first rang out over these great United States to signal our newly-earned independence. To be honest, I do not know what the holiday has in common with rock ‘n roll’s bastard son, doom metal, however it’s undeniable that today just happens to be a great day to listen to some slow-burning headbanding epics while you sip your beer ‘n light off bottlerockets. Today, some of the finest names in underground doom are offering up new MP3s to guarantee you get your dosage of doom amidst the happiness & excitement of the 4th.

After calling it quits in 2006, cult doom favorites YOB from Oregon are back with their new album The Great Cessation via Profound Lore Records on July 14th. Although I have yet to hear the whole album, “Burning the Altar” is a stellar track that should turn any doom fan’s head. This time around the riffs are of an even more apocalyptic, Titantic-sinking, crushing nature, with the band directing their torturous chug over the expansive, most spacious cosmic backdrop they’ve accomplished yet. If you can sync your fireworks to explode in time with the beat, this should make one sweet night for you and your metal friends!

MP3: YOB, “Buring the Altar” (from The Great Cessation, available 7/14)

By today, both Aaron Turner and Justin Broadrick have already played in about 30 bands each, and after treading water in the same territory for so long, it was only inevitable that they’d cross paths. Late last year, they finally announced that they had formed another offshoot together called Grey Machine and would be joined by Dave Cochrane (of Head Of David, God, Ice) and Diarmuid Dalton (Jesu, Godflesh). Since the announcement, little news has surfaced about the project, but now a release date has finally confirmed for the band’s first release. The debut album Disconnected will be out August 4th through Hydrahead, and the “single” for “Vultures Descend” that leaked out earlier this year is an indication that this will be one brutal, unpredictable opus.

MP3: Grey Machine, “Vultures Descend” (from Disconnected, available 8/4)

When I first heard Bloody Panda‘s debut album Pheromone in 2007, my jaw dropped to the floor and stayed there for a while. Though the music first appeared to be of a vibe of straightforward, slow-moving doom, the soaring, cathedral-ready female vocals of Yoshiko Ohara began to push past the edges of my traditional comfort zone. As the polyrhythmic chaos layered slowly took center stage, I began to realize that this was not simply a doom metal act willing to rehash the past – this is the band with the most eerie and engrossing vision in doom that I have seen in a long time.

Fast-forward two-and-a-half years, and now we are awaiting the release of Summons, the band’s followup to Pheromone, on August 11th. If just knowing that this visionary underground act has spent 2+ years refining its craft (and is now supported by a partnership with the esteemed Profound Lore Records) isn’t enough to intrigue you, then maybe the MP3 excerpt they’ve released for “Miserere” will!

MP3 SAMPLE: Bloody Panda, “Miserere (excerpt)” (from Summons, available 8/11)