Album
EP
Megaton Leviathan
Megaton Leviathan hail from Portland Oregon and as their name no doubt suggests are creating sounds of a loud and coarse nature.
Indeed Megaton Leviathan infuse occult sentiment with slow and sludgy doom, encapsulating that black magic feeling that has been married so well with groups of a similar ilk before.
So what does this behemoth named group offer that’s new and refreshing? Well to be fair this is pretty much staple diet stuff, ‘Water Weath Hell on Earth’ is heavy, slow and hypnotic, doing all the right things to be a great track but at risk of sounding too similar to bands that are already secure in the scene (Ramesses comes to mind, for example).
‘Guns and LSD’ meanwhile is entwined with old school doom sentiment while at the same time powerfully contemporary in its uncompromising volume, with ‘Time Fades’ showing off the group’s ability to create an impressive wall of sound with a whirlwind of guitar, ethereal vocals and drums.
It ain’t that these guy’s aren’t good, far from it; rather that while the scene is lavishly inundated with new group after new group, Megaton Leviathan may get lost in the abyss of obscurity. That said with the band releasing their material on their own label and being very much grass roots doom, Megaton Leviathan deserve all the adoration that comes their way and then some.
Album
Live For Nothing
Noothgrush
Officially on hiatus since 2001, San Jose’s Sludge outfit Nootgrush were, for those in the know, a force to be reckoned with in the now overtly popular subgenre, constructing brutally heavy tracks that only went to prove how depressing it was when they bowed out of the circuit, unsung heroes of the scene.
Ten years later and Southern Lord are the heralds of Nootgrush’s return, with some reunion shows scheduled for Autumn 2011 as well as the release of ‘Live for Nothing’ a one hour twenty minute compilation of two radio broadcasts from 96 & 99 respectively.
Abrasive riffs drip from amplifiers from the offset, with tracks like ‘Junland Wates’ and ‘Erode the Person’ highlighting in their own right the trio’s influence on contemporary acts of today, some having ventured little distance from the sound of Nootgrush and their peers at the time.
‘Derrell’s Porno Track’, provides a faster, sleazy composition that aptly applies itself to the task set by its title with ‘Procreation of the Wicked’ creating a hallmark doom track infused with sludgy bleak bass and hellish vocal utterances.
As an introduction to Nootgrush goes, ‘Live for Nothing’ may pale in comparison to their original releases, being better suited to initiate young bloods, however for the hardcore fan this little doozy fits snugly into people’s record collection and with the vinyl of ‘Live for Nothing’ due in early November Nootgruh are sure to moisten old fans appetites for any new studio projects they may (or may not) have in store.