Boy, I would have loved these releases when I was college. Back then I used to go down the night with a bottle of vodka and a spliff the size of Fidel’s eleventh finger. That’s not to say these records aren’t enjoyable now that my mind is clear. Not at all. After all, ever since I decided to move on from past habits my memory has been lucid enough to reverberate the melodies that plague the music of my life. Anyway, this time around I present you the smoke friendly releases of MeteorCity.  Anyone with an interest in stoner rock should already be familiar with this label.  Started as an online store by Jadd Shickler and Aaron Emmel, MeteorCity organically evolved into an actual record label pushing American and international like-minded acts. To keep the label’s green-loving tradittion all their releases come in eco-friendly digipacks made from recycled board and printed with soy-based ink.  Read on and spread the word...

I don’t think I’ll sound like too much of a fan boy by saying that Elder is an amazing band.  Those that may think that of me should check their debut full-length. Rare is the occasion when we encounter an album so tightly packed with quality heavy ass riffage. When full on heavy and angry, Elder reminds a bit of the troglodyte leanings of High On Fire. The main difference is in the jam-like soul of this band. Elder isn’t a band afraid to go spacey. In fact, leader Nick Disalvo is a clever user of keyboards. The results obtained in “Riddle of Steel Pt. 1” are beyond stellar. There, he picks up the mood through tasteful wah-wah riff. Groovy indeed. Elder’s songs go on several focused tangents and when is solo time you better brace yourself for a trip through the refined. Guitarist/vocalist Disalvo is the aceman here. Not only he leads the band with his thick pipes (his vocals don’t work here and there, ”Ghost Head” for instance, but that’s forgivable considering how good the music is), but also charges on with an enviable and astute sense of melody.  MySpace  

Freedom Hawk hail from Virginia and play a quick on its feet 70’s influenced take on bluesy heavy hard rock. Call it stoner rock by default because the dynamics, patterns and the spirit comes directly from that decade of rock exploration but in today’s panorama they totally fit the MeteorCity aesthetics of smoke-friendliness and killer vintage guitars. It’s not strange for Freedom Hawk to indulge in rollicking moods, where just heavy enough rock and roll numbers alternate between the blues influence that infested Black Sabbath and other greats with a much more metal approach. Closer “Hollow Caverns” is a perfect example of the type semi epic balladry that was so popular back in the day. In the span of five minutes Freedom Hawk goes from watery calm to a swift metallic mid tempo. And they do it flawlessly. The vocals of TR Morton capture the era perfectly. He speaks his lines eloquently and with great feel. At times, he reminisces of an articulate Ozzy Osbourne. For more than one reason, Sheavy come to mind. MySpace / Official Site   

New Keepers of the Water Towers hail from Sweden and like most Swedish bands that don’t play Swedish death metal, astound me because of their musical abilities. Yeah, this quintet bends notes like it’s nobody’s business but theirs. They also distinguish themselves from the rest of MeteorCity’s roster by offering a much more abrasive sound. This is clearly stoner rock, modern stoner rock with occasional pure violent flourishes in the vocal department when vocalist Rasmus Bloobeger comes close to a death metal growl. That the combination works is a rarity. Chronicles compiles the band’s first two EP’s. I don’t particularly dig the recording of the first half Chronicles Of The Iceman. Here, the guitar sound is totally unproduced. Maybe they were trying to go for the organic sound of Witchcraft and Graveyard and ended up with this. That said, the music is solid and upbeat and the instrumentation more than makes up for other shortcomings.  The second half rocks harder but that’s not necessarily a good thing.  Titled Chronicles of the Massive Boar, this animal-themed second side doesn’t improve on the production aspect at all. On the contrary, if anything, this time around the sound is tepid and the vocals are more acerbic.  On occasions the band sheds its stoner skin in favor of pure metallic flavors. The music has turned even more violent and has lost some of the soulful passages of the first EP.  The focus of the first EP seems absent. Here is a talented bunch in need of some guidance, or facing the decision of their careers. Stoner or not? I am not sure anymore. Maybe they are just disoriented.  MySpace

Leeches of Lore hail from New Mexico and their sound not only surprises me, but also satisfies me. It surprises me because it does not reflect the aesthetics we perceived as totally MeteorCity-like. And it satisfies me because it features the best traits that heavy metal has to offer and it executes them with flawless gusto. Besides, for a two piece, Leeches of Lore certainly sound grand and epic like good ol’ heavy metal always aspired to be. Their sound encompasses at least three generations of long hair wild rocking into one wonderful eleven song trip. Needless to say, there is a little bit of something for everyone here as this band is never afraid to thrash or dish out a few classic licks a la Angel Witch and the likes. But that doesn’t mean they are incapable of going soft. On more than one occasion their tunes turn crystal clear. The song that takes the band’s name for instance is an epic of sorts that smoothly swims a soft cadence into downwards of tribal drums and swirling fuzzy guitars. Leeches of Lore even embrace the funny ha-ha side of metal, “The Champion Breeder” sounds like something fit for a Ween record. Hellium-high vocals and all. This debut record is no joke though. It rocks from all angles. A nice surprise if there ever was one. MySpace

Snail is a four piece from Seattle and only seven years after their self-titled debut have they felt like giving us another slab of post-grunge ‘grungeness’. Blood makes the band’s hometown the centerpiece of Snail’s sound. Quite frankly, was it not for the up to date production girth of this recording, this would sound rather dated, like an obscured dimmed gem that never got its fifteen minutes in the early 90’s. “Sleep” sounds just like grunge rock, and so does most of the rest. If what we believe to be the grunge sound can be summarized by a few exponents such as Soundgarden and Hum, then this band is just that. That’s not to say that this isn’t heavy. As a matter of fact it is. “Via/Penny Dreadful” is very slow, and has dreary soft vocals that in some inept way are intent on being dreamy. So is “Relief”, where lullaby-like vocal lines build up to flat results. There is an issue here with the melodies. They are lacking that ‘getcha' factor. Call it the ‘sweetness’ or whatever, the music of Snail is too fleeting to have any effect. The title track is the perfect example. Instead of being the centerpiece of the record, it is just one more song of dense guitars and charged layers of distortion and psychedelic keyboards. Perhaps Snail are sinning by being too ambitious for their own good. MySpace 

There has to be one definition of ‘doom’. Out of all the albums by MeteorCity I just covered, all are tagged as belonging to the doom genre in Metal Archives and yet, I wouldn’t classify any of them as such. Flood is the first of the bulk to, in my opinion, fit the mold.  Their music is pure doom. To start with it is invariably slow. Some songs may move slightly faster than others, but the concept of mid tempo is too agile for these San Francisco minds. The riffs are also invariably somber, drawing sad and melancholic notes in the air, the open guitar chords reverberate and darken the room. The heaviness is well, so clear to the untrained it may seem like that’s all there is. The vocals are also big, like negative clouds presaging tragedies and talking distinctively about our impending fate. The syllables sound smeared and distorted by the wind. Yeah, nature carries the songs of Native, the auspicious four-song debut of this excellent band. MySpace

I got the original release of this album over a year ago in the mail.  I  have no excuse for not covering it besides the fact, that shit, I get so much stuff in the mail it is impossible to give coverage to everything. This is one of those instances where I wish I had checked it out before, because it is that good. Initially released in 2008 through Tualatain records and re-released by MeteorCity in 2009, Let the Night Roar is a scorching and violent slab of negative and perfectly executed sludge metal. This four piece out of Atlanta is led by Jeff Joseph Juszkiewicz who at one point played the guitar in Malevolent Creation, but their sound bares no  resemblance whatsoever to that of the death metal merchants. Let The Night Roar specializes in pretty gritty doom sludge metal. There is not one iota of jam friendly vibes here. Instead, the riffs are angry platters of chunky distortion and, just like the vocals, quickly evoke negative feelings. This is a brutal album, no doubt about it. With every subsequent riff, one cannot help but feel like one is getting ran over by a couple of tanks.  MySpace / Official Site