Demonic Death Judge - Absolutely Launched (2025)

Absolutely Launched is the seventh album from Demonic Death Judge, and even if my favourite one is still The Trail (released in 2020), this is another good album from DDJ. They keep on producing heavy and groovy stoner/Doom metal, hardened with some aggressive sludge vocals, but softened by a southern rock melodic touch. A nice combination that is really their own and that they get to really master throughout the years. Good stuff!

 

The BC page. 

 

Brother Dege - Aurora (2024)

The news of the death of Dege Legg known as a musician as Brother Dege really came as a shock to me. Not only because I liked his music (and I loved his music! Still do). I spent a large part of last year translating from English to French his book, Cablog (released in French as Cabdriver) and Dege music was something like the soundtrack of my life at that time. I admired him as a man and as an author as much as I admired him as a musician. I was looking forward to at last meet him at last during his European tour scheduled after the release of Aurora, his new album. He will really be missed. Now, is Aurora living up to the expectancy? Yes, definitely, his garage/blues/psych/southern rock got more personal and emotional, and it's as good and maybe even more memorable than the previous excellent albums. At least Dege left on a very high note. Thank you for that and for all the rest, brother...

The Bandcamp page.

 

The website. 

 

Glorior belli - Gators rumbles, chaos unfurls (2013)

witht heir fifth album aptly titled Gators rumbles, chaos unfurls, french black metallers Glorior belli is further devbeloping its blending of black metal and southern groove. they now really sound like a black metal version of Down, the BM elements left are the vocals even if they're not completely black metal either, and a few blast beats, but very few, it's mostly mid tempo heavy metal songs, but with a darker twist. it could also reminds the most "rocking" moments of Goatwhore. this "southern black metal" concept is really cool and Glorior belli are doing a good job at breathing life into it. maybe Gators rumbles, chaos unfurls is lacking really strong epic song of the caliber we could find in the preious records, but on the other hand it's more homogenous and it's really good overall, with a really good atmosphere, ominous but in a warm almost bluesy way, black metal but in the bayou..


www.gloriorbelli.com

Down-Down IV part I EP (2012)

With Blasting Days I usually deal with less known bands, and Down certainly don't need blogs to spread the word for them. But well...  I really like this band for years now, so I make an exception. They just released Down IV part I, the first of the four EPs they would release until December and before their next album. Another 6 good songs by down. That's a good thing. But...
But I'm a bit disappointed by this EP. one reason is that there is absolutely no surprise on the EP and the songs are not very different, mid-tempo all the time, no fast songs, no acoustic or whatever, no diversity. It sounds a bit like business as usual, the excitement and freshness that was so present in Down II seems far away. Down is still a really good bands writing good songs, but is not as special as it was. I hope the next EP will bring something different from this one...

Down website

addition : I discovered there is an  explanation to the lack of diversity on this record. The band choose to gather the old school heavy metal songs on this one, the more modern heavy ones on the second, the third will be more "bluesy, acoustic" and the fourth will be  "doomy & apocalyptic, bury me in smoke like". OK. But I still think mixing these different Down aspects in each of the EPs would have made a better listening experience. But that being said, I'm impatient to hear the other ones, especially the third and fourth ones.

Pet the preacher-the banjo

Pet the preacher is a new really promising hard rock band. They are from Denmark but they play hard rock with a southern feel (I mean southern as New-Orleans is southern), wih soul, groove and a bluesy roots sound. They release their first full lenght record on vinyl with Kozmik artifactz, it's called The banjo. The ten songs tells the story of the downfall and redemption of a musician (or at least thats what I understood). some songs are quiet, some songs are rockers, but the quality is on a high through all the record. Good songwriting, good musicianship, great vocals, a very cool record. if you're into heavy and rocking music you have to check this new band.

HERE is a video they did for one of the song of their EP. and HERE is "the devil's door" from their new record The banjo.

Their singer and guitarist Christian Hede Madsen agreed to answer to my questions about his band. (Thanks you Christian!). You can read it below : 

-can you present the band and its evolution up to now ?

We are a danish trio called Pet The Preacher and we play rockNroll music. We were fromed in late 2010, and after finding our feet, Jacob Bredahl produced our first release, Meet The Creature(2011), as well as our debut album, The Banjo(2012, Bilocation Records). We are going back in july to record another EP as well.

We wanna be the best playing band out there, in the best meaning of the term, so we try to evolve with every song and every performance.

It´s all about the music.

-to me your sound goes back to the roots of hard rock with a kind of bluesy feeling, do you agree? How would you describe your music?

I totally agree. I think that blues is the thing that really holds us together. That groovy-vibe that Son House, Bukka White and the other delta-musicians stood for. They played dangerous music in a living and passionate way, and I think we wanna do the same, though the sound and structures are different.

We are very inspired by  bands like CLUTCH as well as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, newer bands like DOWN, Mastodon, Baroness, The Raconteurs, Graveyard, Rival Sons and everyone else who plays heavy, groovy music from the heart. I think I will describe our sound as: "heavy, progressive blues!" . If it makes any sense at all!?

-how did you get into this kind of music? And do you play or have played in other bands?

The style developed out of nothing. The three of us sounds like Pet The Preacher when we play. It is our differences that gives it that groove.

I tend to be the "heavy" dude, playing with nasty gain, screaming my lungs out and being all over the place. Torben, the bass-player is a truly great player, who often takes the role of another guitarist, playing harmonies and intricate bass-lines. He can fill out where I mess up. Christian, the drummer, knows a great riff when he hears one and lays down one the best half-time beats I have heard. He has got the balls and makes sure it never gets too Sweet or too boring.

Though he has a thing for small percussion-instruments too.

-The banjo is a concept album in that the lyrics are about the evolution of a man and tells its story, can you tell us more about this story and why did you choose this approach for The banjo?

I write all the lyrics and I was very keen on writing a concept album as our first record. I thought it would make a good statement and also show that we are not a mindless-whisky-drinking-Mötley Crüe-tribute band. We are here to stay and to change things.

The theme came step by step. I thought that a concept of a man deep down in a personal hell and his ascendancy too another place, not a heaven, but a natural place to stay and be happy, is very relevant. I am very aware of "direction" in life. Where are we going? And why? Why wait to be happy, when we control it ourselves? I think it is one of the biggest challenges in our modern world: staying positive and believing life is beautiful. There is so much shit around. But  I wrote an adventure called "The Banjo", thats the short story. Everyone can make of it what they want.

-how was the album written and recorded?

The music was written, the three of us together. Every riff and idea is tried out. Musically, we are a very democratic band. Everybody should feel comfortable about their parts, before we move on. That can change later in the process, but to start with we are happy haha.

I, or Torben, usually come with a riff or 5 and we take it from there. Then I put lyrics to it. Pretty simple. We are a rock-band, not scientists.

Regarding the recording process, we went to DEAD RAT STUDIO in Åbyhøj, Jacob Bredahl´s studio. That is a kick-ass place and we feel very at home there.

We record without a click-track and all together in the same room. Even the solos are recorded live this time. Then we put a rhythm guitar and vocals on top.

Jacob Bredahl is a really good friend and an amazing producer. He loves the sound of "human beings", meaning that it has to be dangerous and edgy, which really suits our sound and approach in the band. A mistake is only a mistake untill you hear it the 10th. time. Then it becomes an integral part of the song.

There is a reason we return in july for the 3rd. time. I can recommend DEAD RAT STUDIO to everyone who has balls and dare to be challenged.

-I guess you are or will be touring to promote the record? What else is planned for the rest of 2012?

 Yeah we have some great plans for the future, very soon we will present some new dates for 2012, as well as a European Tour with some really good friends.

We wanna play as much as possible, we are indeed a live-band. But keep and eye on our twitter, facebook and other stuff for a tour update, and come dance.

That will be truly appreciated.

-with which band would you dream to play?

Everyone who plays from the heart. World-tour with Black Sabbath or Mastodon would be cool though... But we love so many bands, that everyone has something to bring to the table. Just call us!

-how is the scene in Denmark? Which band would you recommend?

 The scene is flourishing. There are a lot of great bands coming out, in a lot of different genres.

I think we are leaning a little bit towards the metal-scene, because people seem to relate to us very well there. Though they consider us a soft blues-band I guess. There are so many to reccomend, but some that I know got their shit together and their heart in the right place( dont mind the genre):

By The Patient, RISING, HelHorse, Specktors, Hexis, The Kandidate, Scarred By Beauty, Dance With Dirt, Stream City, Stoneword, Solbrud but again there is so many new bands and even more established acts. It is easy to get inspired. This is just the start.

-something to add?

Thank you so much for noticing us and giving us your time. We really appreciate it. Please buy our record on vinyl, www.kozmik-artifactz.com, and spread the word.

Peace

King Giant-Dismal hollow

 King giant released Dismal hollow in january 2012, adding another really high quality record to their discography (southern darkness, 2009, was already really class). Dismal hollow is powerfull and soulfull hard rock/old school heavy metal doom. Great songwriting, great riffs, great singing melodies, great atmospheres epic, dark and melancholic, all that with a southern flavour and groove. Dismal hollow sure will be one of the best classic heavy metal/doom record for 2012.

Listen to it on their BC page it is mandatory and no excuses will be accepted!

King giant website

 And thanks to David Kowalski for accepting to answers to a few questions about King giant by mail. Read it below :

King Giant is :

Rhythm Guitar - David Kowalski
Vocals - David Hammerly
Lead Guitar - Todd Ingram
Bass Guitar - Floyd Lee Walters III
Drums - Brooks

-how did you get to form King giant?

DK - Well, we've had a couple of line-up changes so the "how did you form" question isn't really relevant to King Giant as it is today. However, I can say that we all came out of musical retirement to play in this band. All of us played in previous bands, knew one another, or were friend's of friends' in the DC music scene. The idea was simply to get together, jam, write songs, play shows, and have fun.

-what I like in Dismal hollow is the fact that in not just good “doom”, “stoner”, “southern metal”, we can hear in your sound such elements I think, but there is no doom parts, stoner parts, etc..it’s really cohesive and the songwriting is really strong and for me Dismal hollow just sound like a heavy metal classic. What do you think of that?

DK - Thank you very much! We put a lot of time and effort into writing “songs” not just parts, so I’m happy to hear that it resonates with other people. When we write, we just play what feels right and what sounds good. We don’t try to steer riffs in any one direction. Believe me, it doesn’t work! Speaking for myself, I’m heavily influenced by bands that wrote songs that have hooks that have discernable parts like intros, choruses, etc… Riffs are paramount, but a song does not a riff make!

-have you started to write the songs for the next album? If so how are the new songs?

DK - We have. Unfortunately, we are unable to play shows to support “Dismal Hollow” right now due to an injury I sustained last year to my leg. I’ve chosen not to play shows because I can damage it again if I don’t rest and allow it to heal properly. I have to stay out of situations where I know I will over-do it. I told the other guys that they should go tour with a temp guitarist, but they didn’t want to. So, because of all that, we have started working on some new ideas. It’s safe to say that we will continue in the same direction as “Dismal Hollow”, but hopefully extend past it!

-Dismal hollow is so good that it will be hard to top, have you got an idea about how you’ll achieve that?

 DK - Hopefully by just doing what we’ve done in the past. In other words, writing songs for ourselves, first and foremost, and by being our own worst critic, we won’t take any short cuts in the songwriting process.

-in the video about the making of Dismal hollow you say that the songs are short dark Americana stories, can you tell us more about that?

DK - For me, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were (are) a really big influence. His songs that had narratives really stuck with me. Ironically, it took an Australian to turn me onto to checking out American folk, early blues, and bluegrass music. It’s amazing how dark some of the early bluegrass music is with song topics about sin, addiction, and the devil... it’s just like metal!

-I understand why did you make a video for Appomattox because the song is brilliant, and the video is cool, but what I don’t get is that the video seems to have nothing to do with the lyrics, what is the link between the civil war and zombies?

DK - Nothing. But it was a lot of fun! It really was a logistical issue. We simply didn’t have the money that would be needed to make a Civil War video without taking too many shortcuts, or without it ending up cheesy. Kevin Barker of Mono/Poly Creative, our video director, jokingly said, “screw it, let’s make a zombie video” and a few days later came back to me realizing that it just might work. That’s how it started. Originally, the TV / Newscast in the video was going to play a more prominent role, making references to how the zombie invasion was similar to the civil war because of families and loved ones having to turn on each other, and stating lines like, “not since the civil war has this amount of blood been split on american soil...” etc, you get the idea. But it ultimately got cut from the final edit.

-I’ve seen that you ask people to donate money to help you making this video, was it successful?

DK - Yes. We wouldn’t have been able to make this video without the generous help of our kickstarter patrons. We were blown away at how responsive and generous everyone was to our fundraiser. Also, I want to add that many people contributed their time and talent to making this video a reality. I can’t stress enough that we could not have done it without everyone who pitched in!

-which cool band from your area would you recommend?

DK - Salome, Auroboros (ex-salome, ex-baroness – check them out!), Earthride.... there’s more but that’s all I can think of right now.

-do you plan touring Europe (if you do so you have to go to Montpellier, France!)?

DK - We would love to, but no formal plans as of yet. We need to most likely get another album out there in order to do that. I personally would love to play Montpellier, anywhere  by the Mediterranean is fine by me!

-what can we expect from the band in the coming months?

 DK - We’re saving our money to hopefully shoot another video in the next few months. No definitive ideas yet, we’re leaning towards a couple of songs, but we haven’t chosen one yet. It’s not going to be as involved as the “Appomattox” video (we don’t have the money for that) but it should still be a fun video to watch.

-one last thing to add?

DK - Saw the line up for Hellfest, looks great! I wish I were going....Also, just wanted to point out to your readers that while our 2^nd album “Dismal Hollow” is available through many channels via distributors, our first album, “Southern Darkness” is not, it’s currently only available through our website. Vinyl lovers, both albums are gatefold, 180gram, colored vinyl! Both albums can be streamed in their entirety via kinggiant.bandcamp.com
Also, Thanks Dennis for your time and interest in King Giant! Cheers!!

Glorior belli

The great southern darkness is the latest (sept 2011) release by french black metallers Glorior belli. It is indeed great, dark and with a southern flavour, because they mix with great taste and talent black metal blastbeats, vocals and atmospheres, with southern grooves and riffage.

At time it sounds like a kind of blackened version of Pantera, and I guess it is not by chance that the name of their record reminds of The great southern trendkill, the darkest record by Pantera. They even have the creepy blues based ballads.The result, both original and powerfull, full of both warmth and anger, makes one the best  metal record of 2011.

If you like southern sounding rock/metal and black metal you absolutely have to listen to Glorior belli (check also their previous record, Meet us at the southern cross).

on THIS page from their official website you'll be able to listen to songs, watch videos, etc...