If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky

May Releases And News

Naam - Ballad of the Starchild

After a spectacular album of doom drenched in dark psychedelia and a two song release that contained their unique perspective on two classic Nirvana tunes, Naam are back with a new EP. This ones a little less dark, but don't worry - they haven't completely abandoned doom metal. Theres a lot of different stuff going on here, besides the mandatory doom songs we have one that consists of strange percussion and a sitar as well as one that sounds a bit like some of Pink Floyd's more warm psych-laced acoustic stuff.

Ahab - The Giant

While not as good as masterpiece The Call of the Wretched Sea (come on, did anyone expect them to surpass that one?) or their sophomore, this is still pretty enjoyable. While the debut was bone crushingly heavy, this one features lots of clean singing and some passages that border on post-rock. Thankfully they do this well, and aren't one of the legions of metal bands that add some shitty post-rock to appeal to the hipsters. Speaking of hipsters, thats who I assumed they were trying to market themselves to when I saw the god-awful album cover. I mean seriously guys, how hard is it to pick out another classic ocean themed painting? Whatever, this is solid.

Anhedonist - Netherwards

So this debut album has been getting a fair amount of underground press lately. They totally deserve it. This is some pretty original doom/death sort of stuff, but not at all like old Anathema or My Dying Bride, if thats what your picturing. This is sludgy, hard hitting and full of dark atmosphere. 

Some News

So heres a song off new Star Fucking Hipsters/ Jesus Fucking Christ split. Hey, with two bands with "fuck" in their name, it must be, uh, interesting. So Leftover Crack spinoff Star Fucking Hipsters describe themselves as "Bubblegum Crust". This is definitely one of their crustier moments; hell the intro/outro even sounds like a drone metal song. The link can be found here.

Metal visionaries Neurosis are set to release a new album this year. A new interview with member Steve Von Till can be found here. Both Steve Von Till and fellow member Scott Kelley have acoustic based solo albums. They are teaming up with former Saint Vitus singer Wino, who also does acoustic stuff, to do a split of Townes Van Zandt cover songs. I'll leave you with a classic Van Zandt song: