QUEEN CRESCENT - Self-Titled (Album Review)

This is great stuff.

Queen Crescent is an all woman band from the Bay Area of California who make heavy, dark and punky stoner doom rock with flute. Comparisons will be made to Blood Ceremony and maybe even Jethro Tull, but should be avoided. These ladies do their own thing, and that thing is spectacular. These heavy ladies will also be lumped in with the occult rock label and there's some truth to that if you look at the song "Majic Moonjynuh", but this album is no more occult related than any other rock n roll album to emerge since Bill Haley & the Comets told the world what time it is.

Main vocalist Andrea Genevieve automatically brings to mind Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, especially on the album's best song, "Culture Vulture". But we're only talking tone of voice here, because she's singing from a low register. As far as what's going on musically, Queen Crescent are in a class of their own. It's hard to imagine flute as a blunt object for instance. It's used almost as a percussion instrument in this standout track, but if it can be done flautist / vocalist Melissa Vu will find a way to do it.

Flute is a huge part of what shapes Queen Crescent's sound, it's treated as a lead instrument. This allows the incredibly low-tuned guitars to slide under the radar and hit the listener on an almost subconscious level. This is what gives the music its dark and mysterious overtone. Some might hear it and read the sound as "occult", but what they're hearing is the contrast that springs from the interplay. The light tones of the flute, playing a darkened melody with that basso rumble underneath has a somewhat hypnotic effect. The musical mysticism expressed on this album is more attuned to the true magical experience of psychedelics than the often overblown imagery of the stirring of cauldrons and the riding of broomsticks.

What really matters is the music itself and this 7-song, 33-minute debut is potent stuff. Powerful vocals, solid melodies, heavy riffs and killer flute are all driven along at a solid pace from the back end by drummer Amy Martinez. You get an easy sense of the tongue-in-cheek sensibilities of the band with song titles like the above-mentioned "Majic Moonjynuh" and the short warm-up of "In the Court of the Crescent Queen". Also, any outfit that gives a respectful nod to the iron-fisted musical gymnastics of Mr. Fripp and company are alright in my book.

Rating: ««««½ / 5

You can find out more about this hard-working, up-and-coming band at the following links:

Queen Crescent official website
Queen Crescent on bandcamp
Queen Crescent on facebook
Queen Crescent on twitter
Queen Crescent on instagram

'Queen Crescent' is now available on LP and digitally. Check out the album on the player below

TAKEN BY THE SUN - Self-Titled (Album Review)

Incredible cover artwork by Nick Keller.

It's not everyday you come across a band that describes their music as "Post-Metal / Jazz / Doom / Ambient Sludge", so it's with a high level of awareness that you approach Chicago's Taken By the Sun. You just know you're going to either love the music ... or despise it deeply and passionately.

Taken By the Sun's self-titled debut is progressive in the truest sense, it speaks the language of stoner and doom metal but invents new phrases, crashing the borders of both extreme and post-metal styles along the way. The patchwork monster of sounds and styles isn't entirely unlike what a Neurosis would produce with the "kitchen sink metal" sensibilities of Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals thrown in. You may hear an odd-time hammer slam of a drum beat with a haunting melody plucked away in the background before the two elements switch places of prominence. You might hear dry throat cries mingling with melodic vocals atop a choppy chaotic sea of noise, before the entire structure solidifies and girders itself with a stoner riff.

But apart from what sounds familiar, there are times you will hear things on this album you've never heard before, like the soaking wet modulating bass tone of the incredible "Red" or the "bone-dance" riffing in parts of "Volatile". The magnum opus of this first outing would have to be the closing track "Ornaflux", which was premiered over at the terrific Sludgelord blog. You can listen to that track at this location. It's a good introduction to the band, it shows what they're all about, a bludgeoning attack buffeted by polyrhythms, around the world melding of styles a head-sploding chaotic chorus and it just so happens to be a great song to boot. It's incredible when you hear it to think that the album was recorded live with minimal overdubs.

This all might sound like direction-less nonsense, but that's my words failing, not the band. The styles in the utility belt may clash, but each is used in its proper place. This band is Batman. The raw elements of sound are then re-combined in novel ways, by finding just the right mixture to create a powerful new beast never before glimpsed by man. This band is Mr. Hyde.

The album goes live on Taken By the Sun's bandcamp page tomorrow, February 24.

Rating: «««« / 5

Taken By The Sun facebook page

Official website

HORRIBLE NIGHTS - Patrick Bruss - The Gorgon's Gallery

American multi-instrumentalist Patrick Bruss is one half of the horror-inspired death / grind metal band Crypticus. Together, he and Norwegian drummer Brynjar Helgetun have released three full-length albums and a host of E.P.'s and other items. Now, death metal isn't my thing but for Crypticus I can say that what I've heard from the band is better than 95% of the genre, this coming from someone who loves riff-based metal with organ so take that for what it's worth to you. 

But Crypticus is only one outlet for Patrick Bruss's dark imagination. This past October he released a solo eight song E.P. of synth-based horror themes called 'The Gorgon's Gallery'. I've talked at length and I'll continue to talk at length about how it's tough to find good synth-based horror music that isn't dance-y, well 'The Gorgon's Gallery' is exactly what I'm looking for. Matter of fact this is one of the best imaginary horror soundtracks I've heard.

The difference here is that Bruss uses live instruments so that the atmosphere maintains its horrific focus. It's hard to maintain an eerie or creepy feeling when your feet feel like dancing. Horror music should make your feet feel like running or at least stay very, very still so as not to attract attention. Bruss achieves that goal here. It's easy to tell that this horror-inspired music is coming from someone with a heavy metal, rather than a dance music background. The sensibility pays off as you can practically feel the blood pulsating and oozing from the throbbing basslines.

Again, this album is caked with castle dungeon atmosphere. It sets the mind off into secret tunnels and cobwebbed lairs of darkness. If that sounds corny to you, then you're probably not a horror lifer. Bruss is, and it takes a certain sensibility to realize and maintain such moods. But as important the feel is to this E.P., there's memorable themes here. Ultimately, the combination of the two, atmosphere and melody is what brings me back constantly.

Three of my other personal favorite horror-inspired musical projects, Blizaro, Slasher Dave and Werewolves in Siberia also come from musicians with heavy metal backgrounds (although Blizaro is more metal with horror music touches), a fourth of those favorites, Zoltan uses live instruments. The organic quality of live instruments and heavy sensibility of the artist comes together to create perfect horror music so that the sense of menace runs rampant. If I were to try to pinpoint this album on the horror music scale of heaviness it would fall between Blizaro and Slasher Dave. No matter where it lies though, this has been one of the best albums of horror music I've heard and I hope Patrick Bruss continues to do this kind of thing. 

He also did the music for a short film called "For the Team" which you can find at this location.

Rating: «««««/ 5

EVERYDAY STRANGE - The Brookfield Demon Murder

[Image source]

Brookfield, CT - On February 16, 1981 the 193-year old town of Brookfield, CT experienced its first murder when 19-year old Arne Johnson stabbed his landlord Alan Bono five times in the chest with a pocket knife. But that wasn’t the only precedent the act would set. In late October, facing a charge of manslaughter Johnson’s defense entered the plea of Not Guilty - by reason of demonic possession.

Roughly a year earlier, Ed and Lorraine Warren came to visit. You might remember them as the subjects of the recent film The Conjuring or nearly any made-for-TV program about ghosts or the paranormal in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s. Johnson’s girlfriend (Debbie Glatzel)’s 11-year old brother David Glatzel was being looked at for demonic possession. The Warrens swore it was a genuine case, though it seems they never met a paranormal case they didn’t love. But, it seemed the exorcism didn’t take. After Catholic priests presided over the boy, the infernal infection apparently remained. Arne, never particularly close to David, took the initiative to call upon the demons to leave the boy’s body and enter his own. Martin Minnella, Johnson’s lawyer argued that they did just that.

That decision turned the case into a national sideshow.

Minnella had “tapes” (audio or video is unrevealed) of the exorcism. Minnella still claims 34 years later that young David Glatzel spoke “the names of 42 demons in Latin, and that the Brookfield Police Chief was going to testify that he saw the child levitate”.

Minnella claimed that ‘demonic possession’ wasn’t synonymous with ‘insanity’, he was out to prove that demons exist. The Warrens also never seem to have met a camera they didn’t love and embraced their potential role as star witnesses. Minnella was prepared to have the Warrens testify to the existence of demons, and to produce the recordings of the exorcism including Johnson’s “challenge” to the demons but the plea was rejected by the court and the more conventional plea of self-defence was entered in its place.

The entire stabbing incident was found to be due to Bono’s having made an obscene remark about Debbie Glatzel’s dress, which Johnson took exception to. The two argued, things escalated, Bono wound up dead. Johnson was found guilty and served five years in prison.

The event gained colossal levels of media attention at the time and became known as “the devil made me do it case”. It even spawned a 1983 made-for-TV movie starring Kevin Bacon called The Demon Murder Case. It isn’t great. It’s no ‘The Exorcist’ that’s for sure, but tune in tomorrow for the real-life story that inspired the novel that the film was based on …

Sources:

Hartford Courant

People Magazine

Take a look at this My Life of Crime article for reams and reams of links

Post-Script: This story has a happy ending, Johnson married Glatzel while still in prison and the two remain together, today they are grandparents to two boys.

And here's The Demon Murder Case movie for your viewing pleasure. It also stars Andy Griffith and was directed by William Hale.

EVERYDAY STRANGE - Alligators in Sewers, NYC

“Salvatore yelled: "Hey, you guys, wait a minute," and got down on his knees to see what was the trouble. What he saw, in the thickening dusk, almost caused him to topple into the icy cavern. For the jagged surface of the ice blockade below was moving; and something black was breaking through ... "Honest, it's an alligator!" he exploded.”

NEW YORK, NY - An article appeared in the February 10, 1935 edition of the New York Times titled ‘Alligator found in Uptown Sewer’. It tells a surreal story about a group of youths shoveling snow into the sewer when one of them (Salvatore Condolucci) sees something moving weakly at the bottom. After identifying the moving thing as an alligator the group ties a lasso around its neck and hauls it ten feet up to the street. The reptile snaps feebly at the gang and they proceed to beat it to death with their shovels. It’s written in that white hot prose style common at the New York Times which blurs the line between fiction and journalism.

New York City’s former superintendent of sewers Teddy May talked about undergoing subterranean expeditions to root out the alligator problem. The first-hand accounts of Mr. May’s sewer safaris discovering “serenely paddling” colonies of ‘gators, then systematically hunting and destroying them were recounted in Robert Daley’s 1959 book, The World Beneath the City. From humble origins a legend too good to be true was born.

The consensus view of scientists is that alligators could not survive in the sewers beneath New York due to a confluence of hostile conditions: cold weather, lack of sun, food scarcity and pollution. But science is not conducted by consensus and appealing to a majority is a logical fallacy. Could the original Times article be true?

The author repeatedly describes the alligator as half-dead when it is found and states that its origin is a mystery and the subject of some debate and consideration. After it was bludgeoned to death the gator was taken to the Lehigh Stove and Repair Shop across the street where it was measured and weighed, then picked up by city workers and incinerated on Staten Island.

In 2009 Times publisher's son A.G. Sulzberger III ran a condescending blog piece about the alligators-in-the-sewer phenomenon. In it, Salvatore Condolucci, then 92-years old doesn’t retract the 1935 story. The fact that Sulzberger was able even to produce Condolucci speaks to the veracity of the original story. That the still living eye witness confirmed it is also worth considering, even though Sulzberg was careful to describe Condolucci’s memory as fading.

The “scientific consensus” would have you believe that there is no truth to the rumor that thriving colonies of alligators live or ever have lived in the sewers of New York, but could at least one have gotten down there by one way or another? Absolutely. Before the 1935 article appeared there was another incident three years earlier. On June 28, 1932 it was reported that "swarms" of alligators were spotted in the Bronx River and one was found dead on its banks. The conditions of a big city sewer are probably not as adverse to alligators as the scientists would have you believe, no matter how popular their opinions are among their peers.

These scientists have spread the rumor that ‘gators could not survive under these conditions, without scientifically verifying the idea. They seem to forget that alligators survived whatever it was that killed off the dinosaurs. Alligators are dinosaurs. They’ve been through climate changes, ice ages, lack of sunlight, all those conditions and survived as a species for 180 million years.

Lack of sunlight isn’t a problem, not if you want your gator to grow faster. It’s not the healthy choice for the sun-loving animal but commercial alligator farmers keep their livestock in the dark because it speeds the growing process.

Alligators have been found in sewers on numerous occasions in the southern states, even the wikipedia article on the subject lists multiple sources with links to news articles. You can even watch a video below taken in Florida of an alligator in a sewer.

There are food sources down there, nobody denies there are thriving rat colonies in the sewers of New York, and where one species thrives so must predator and prey. Though the sewer collects cold rain water, temperatures would be warmer in the sewers than on the streets due to heat energy released by decaying matter. But is it enough to support a colony of alligators? I’m not ready to say it’s impossible.

New York state isn’t saying it’s impossible either. Legislators have not taken any chances with the legend or tempted fate: it is now illegal to keep an alligator or its near-relatives as pets within state limits.

Sources:

The original NY Times article

The full Times article reproduced

Sulzberg Jr. blog piece

FAQ about Alligators and their kin

Snopes article with a listing of multiple incidents

1999 - Unexplained (2nd edition) by Jerome Clark, pp 389-90

HORRIBLE NIGHTS - John Carpenter - Lost Themes

“It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures ... It’s just fun.”

- John Carpenter [source]

You know John Carpenter. He needs no introduction, but he deserves one nevertheless. One of the most creative forces in the latter quarter of the 20th century in both film and music, John Carpenter scored and directed over 15 films between 1974's Dark Star and 2010's The Ward. His list of accomplishments during that span is significant. He helped defined the slasher film subgenre while simultaneously helping to define (along with Italian atmospheric prog masters Goblin), how music sounded in film for the next decade with but a single work: the classic 1978 film Halloween. He went on to direct and score some of the most iconic films of the 1980’s: They Live; Big Trouble in Little China; The Thing and The Fog among other classics.

[Image source]

So what John Carpenter does today? According to recent interviews he plays video games and watches the NBA on TV. How's that for one of the most innovative musicians of the latter quarter of the 20th century? Well it seems the video games help fuel his creative fires. In between rounds of Borderlands 2 and Assassin's Creed: Unity, he would sneak off to his home studio to improvise an idea in sound.

'Lost Themes' is a deceptive title and I imagine it's intentionally so. It automatically makes one think that these songs are unused themes from his films, but that's not the case. Though he's had many a soundtrack album released from his films over the years this is in fact, his first standalone album of all-new original material. But that doesn't mean he's forgotten the lessons learned in his film work.

Carpenter improvises when scoring a film. He starts with a drone, adjusted for the mood of what's on screen. Then he adds layers of keyboards as he watches the scene in real time. For 'Lost Themes', Carpenter used much the same process, but he didn't have a picture reference to draw from and the result is apparently liberating. Carpenter is free from the constraints of narrative, budget and the limitations of special effects to imagine all-new scenes and then to score the hell out of them. 

[Image source]

Music can often "suggest" images. It's one of the great joys of listening to music, specifically that of the "horror synth" or "darkwave" subgenres which Carpenter basically created. On 'Lost Themes', the opposite is taking place. Imagination creates images which suggest music. The resulting album is unique within Carpenter's ouevre. While still filmic, the music is free to be more than accompaniment, it's free to be just what it is, music for music's sake.

The songs or "themes" are highly atmospheric, as always the songwriting process begins with a mood, which is turned into a drone. But rather than remain static for the duration of a scene, the compositions are free to wander around and tell entire short stories of their own within their 4 to 8 minute lengths. That means they're structured, though not rigidly so. Of course, the best moments on the album are the darkest in both tone and title, "Night" and "Obsidian" stand out as particular highlights, along with "Mystery" and "Abyss". If nothing else, how often do you see a 67-year old release one of the best electronic albums of the year?

The LP version will be released in March by Sacred Bones Records. The album proper stretches 47 minutes across 9 songs, but the iTunes download comes with a half hour’s worth of remixes, which is jarring, unnecessary and their entirely different tone (read, dancey) only serves to undermine the carefully laid fabric of the album. Stick to Carpenter and you'll do fine.

Rating: «««« / 5

Also check out:

John Carpenter's official site

The Sludgelord write-up that originally turned me on to Carpenter albums

and

This cool beginner's guide to John Carpenter's music

EVERYDAY STRANGE - Cacti's Revenge

No matter how ignorant we may be to the secret life of cacti, we rarely think of the plant as capable of revenge.

[Image source]

LAKE PLEASANT, AZ - “Cactus plugging” is the act of using cacti for target practice. It seems harmless enough, the cactus doesn’t truly seem to be alive. Their branches resemble arms making the plant appear like the bizarrely gorganized remains of dried out desert travelers who didn’t quite make it out. It is a symbol of the desert, an area to beware, an area of death. In many ways the cactus, like the vulture, are symbols of death. But no matter how ignorant we may be to the secret life of cacti, we rarely think of the plant as capable of revenge.

On February 5, 1982 David Grundman, 24-27 (reports vary) was cactus plugging with friend Jim Suchochi, a couple miles into the desert from the highway, west of Lake Pleasant. Grundman started off slowly that winter day, felling a couple lightweight cacti with a few shotgun blasts. Before long however, a more impressive specimen caught his attention.

[Image source]

Saguaro cacti are endemic to the Sonoma desert spread between the Arizona and Mexico border. They can grow up to 60 feet high and live to about 200 years, though some specimens have been known to be 300 years old. The arm-like branches of the cacti don’t grow until 75 years into the life of the plants. When Grundman locked his targets onto a 27-foot tall, 100 year old saguaro, he was targeting a plant that had lived to roughly half of its potential, but it was more than enough time for it to sprout massive 1000 pound limbs.

It seems Grundman’s fatal mistake was getting too close to the living thing as he blasted it to smithereens. After plugging it twice, Grundman turned and called out to his friend Jim, before a massive branch fell on him, crushing him to death. Early reports stated he had uttered the partial word “tim-” as in “timber” before the fatal moment.

It’s a story that seems too good to be true, and debunkers flock to it hoping for an easy target, but like Grundman himself, those debunkers find that the target is not so easy after all, and much more prickly than first imagined. It’s a cautionary tale, one that tells all who hear it to respect life, all forms of life, no matter how immobile. The general tone of many of the articles you will find on this incident is mocking and carry the sentiment that Grundman deserved what he got. He was immortalized in the 1984 Austin Lounge Lizards mock hero-ballad “Saguaro” where he is referred to as a “noxious little twerp”.

For the record, saguaro plugging is illegal.

Sources:

Sources are abundant on the web. I wasn’t able to track down the two original articles that mentioned the story. The first appeared in the now defunct Phoenix Gazette newspaper, the second appeared in the Arizona Republic before being picked up by the Associated Press. But I did find an AZ Republic article that made mention of the story and seemed to confirm the truth of it.

Arizona Republic

The Desert News - December 1, 1987

Phoenix New Times

Snopes

THE GOOD KIND OF MUSHROOM - TGKOM EP

Well I was preparing an entirely different The Good Kind of Mushroom feature when this got dropped on me like manna from heaven (that's a pun, not a cliche). Broadly, The Good Kind of Mushroom is a stoner rock duo from Texas who specialize in improv jams and if two long EP's released within the span of a month is any indication, we may be in for a sustained deluge. And that's what this EP is in many respects, a deluge of ideas. But don't let the improv label freak you out. If you've ever participated in improv then you'll know that already worked-out ideas are presented in an unstructured environment and that's what it sounds like we've got here. The ideas are fully developed but they're presented in an unpredictable way. What you get substantively is some good tie-dyed blues mixed with stoner metal, depending on the mood of the exact moment it was recorded. Groovy. I've got to say I like this second EP better than the first, though I thought the first was damn fine, but just for completion's sake, I'm going to include players for both EPs below.

EVERYDAY STRANGE - Abducted by Machines

Lee kept shouting, “no, no, not the black one!”

PROSPECT, KY - At approximately 1:05 a.m. on the night of January 27, 1977, Lee Parish, 19 was driving west on Highway 329 at right about this location when he saw something hovering over the treeline. The object was rectangular and had a fiery quality, like a sunset only brighter. Parish was enthralled by the object, unable to take his eyes away from it. Looking back he didn’t know how his Jeep had managed to stay on the road. When the vehicle got directly underneath the object, the UFO took off to the northwest soundlessly, at incredible speed. The cigarette he had been smoking had also disappeared from his hand.

By the time he returned home it was 1:45 a.m. The 7-minute journey had taken an incredible 40 minutes. When he got home his mother asked “what’s wrong with your eyes?” They were completely bloodshot.

Lee later underwent hypnotic regression, during which further details of the night emerged. While driving under the blazing object his eyes began to burn. It changed color to black, then white and then he couldn’t see anything, but felt something in his eyes. When his sight returned he was no longer in his Jeep, but in a white room.

Three beings or objects stood before him. “The Black One”, stood to his left. It was described as being like a military target cut out, jug-shaped and twenty feet tall, it was flat on the bottom and had a single appendage. When the appendage touched Lee, it hurt him, it was both hot and cold at the same time and it gave him the sense of vibrating. Throughout the regression therapy session Lee kept shouting, “no, no, not the black one!”

To his right stood “The Red One”, it was roughly Lee’s size and reminded him of a Coke machine. It also had a single appendage but Lee sensed that the being was reluctant to touch him, as though the machine were repulsed by him. When “the red one’s” appendage finally did touch him, it felt to Lee like being jabbed with a needle, though the sensation wasn’t as unpleasant as the touch of “the black one”.

Lee somehow sensed that the faceless, two-armed “White One”, which stood away in the center of the room, was the leader of the three beings. Though all three of his captors appeared to him to be machine-like, he could sense that they were sentient beings.

When “the red one” had finished with him, it went over to “the white one” and “merged” with it, disappearing entirely inside of its apparent “ruler”, its task complete. When the merger took place a strange brushing sound resulted like somebody brushing their teeth or sandpapering. Then the white one moved over toward “the black one” and merged with it, before the black one slowly backed away leaving Lee alone in the room.

The next thing Lee said under hypnosis was, “there’s the pond”, and he described being back behind the wheel of the Jeep with no mention of how he got back there. He did say that the UFO reeled his Jeep in when it got over top of him and had suspended the Jeep in mid-air while he was inside the craft.

Lee also said that he had seen UFOs numerous times before, but always while with another person. He felt as though the UFO occupants had targeted him for some time and had waited for their chance to take him while he was alone.

Source:

UFO Evidence

OWNER - Shame Face

The impression I get here is that Owner are the Tom Waits of the stoner scene. No, not calliope-infused weirdness Tom Waits, I'm talking smoke-filled blues bar on a Tuesday night Tom Waits. From the early days, back when he knew his entire fanbase by name, her name was Starla and she had VD. This Portland trio is just different. They're a little bit Nick Cave and a little bit Truckfighters. They're so different and unusual you'd swear they were from Finland! Well, my name may not be Starla and I don't have VD, but I am a fan. This 4-song, 24-minute EP is up as a PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT download on bandcamp, so you can be too at a reasonable price.

EVERYDAY STRANGE - Teresa Butler

"The lady said she answered the phone and said 'Hello' a couple times," Stevens explained. "There was nothing on the other end that she could ever hear, so she hung up."

-from the Daily Dunklin Democrat (July 23, 2006)

Teresa Butler [Image Source]

[Image Source]

RISCO, MO - 35-year old wife and mother of two, Teresa Butler disappeared from her home on the night of January 25, 2006. She was discovered missing when her husband Gary returned home from work at 10 a.m. to find their sons, two and four years old, respectively, alone in the house and apparently undisturbed. A video camera, playstation (with games), large Mag-lite flashlight, Nintendo Game Cube and digital camera were missing as well as Teresa’s purse and cell phone, but her jacket and wedding ring were left behind and her Jeep was left sitting in the driveway with its stereo missing. There were no signs of a struggle but part of a key was broken off in a lock in a door. She was last heard from the night before the disappearance when her sister-in-law came to visit. She hasn’t been seen since, but she may have been heard from.

Two calls were made from her cell phone the night she disappeared. The first was at 3:16 a.m. to a man in Gideon, MO. who did not answer. When police investigated they discovered that the man had no connection to Teresa or anyone in her family.

The second call was made after her disappearance to a home in Clarkton, MO where two elderly women lived together. When they answered the phone, they couldn’t hear anything, not even breathing. Like the first call, this second one seemed to be random as the two women had no connection to Teresa, either.

The Butler family residence [Image Source].

Police did discover that Gary’s ex-wife had made threatening phone calls to Teresa while at work. No connection has ever been established to Gary’s ex-wife but then Sheriff Terry Stevens said he was “positive foul play was involved”. Teresa’s mom also supported the theory, saying "I felt fear gripping the home down there. I knew someone was watching the house, I could feel it."

Teresa Butler was one of several missing persons honored in a ceremony at the Missouri state capitol in 2011. By that time, 5 years had passed since her disappearance but tips were still flooding in to the New Madrid County Sheriff's office on a better than weekly basis. They come from all across the country. The tips range from the location of where her body may be buried, to where she may be living. The Sheriff's office takes every one of those calls seriously and investigates every lead but so far to no avail. About half of the tipsters believe Teresa to still be alive. No trace of her has ever turned up, not the missing items, not even a piece of clothing. Teresa's fate remains a mystery.

SOURCES:

The Charley Project
Find Teresa Butler
The Daily Dunklin Democrat

KFVS News

KFVS News story 2

LADIES OF LEISURE - Demonstration

Found this awhile ago but had it stuck in wishlist hell for unknown reasons. Six song, half hour demo from a trio of well-dressed guys from Chicago. Thick, occasionally choking levels of fuzz and good driving rhythms. Not much to dislike here, not much at all. It's PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT so throw a copper in their collective hat and rock out to some great stoner tunes.

THE LUNAR ERA - Red River Black Moon

Another great two song extended play single is by Maine trio The Lunar Era. Psyched-out doomy jams are the order of the day here. It's hard to imagine this FREE DOWNLOAD not catching on. I'd hate to think of the kind of people who wouldn't like this. These young dudes are juuuust stepping out into the spotlight, but it won't be long before they catch on in a big way. First track "Red River" is impressive. It slow cooks to a punkish boil. I've included the second song "Black Moon" on a podcast which I'll upload later, maybe have it up by morning.

Lunar Era's facebook page

CLOUD CATCHER - Enlightened Beyond Existence

Found this a couple days ago. A solid 2-song, 15 minute slice with some varied moods. Kind of a psychedelic take on Black Sabbath, just as riffy, dark and heavy. This is just some awesome old school rock n roll, heavy as hell. It's pretty amazing when you think about it, just how versatile this music is. You'd think that after a lifetime of listening to heavy riffs the novelty would wear off or it would all start to sound the same and get lost in the wash, but that's not the case at all. Not when bands like Cloud Catcher continue to appear. These guys have been around for a hot minute, they've got a lot of facebook likes and they've even had a mention in Metal Hammer, but this is the first I've heard them. These two songs are 8 and 6 minutes long but they're over before you know it. This is not entirely unlike a more expansive version of Mothership. Give it a listen, you'll love it.

JUST THE FACTS (according to the band's facebook page):

Founded on May 2013

Genre: Cosmic Heavy Rock

Band Members
Andrew Van Deusen - Bass
Jared Soloman Handman - Drums
Rory Rummings- Guitar/Vocals

Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Short Description
"Mile-high space streakers from the mountains of Denver." - METAL HAMMER Magazine
http://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com/ @cloudcatcherco

Bio
Cloud Catcher, an epic three piece descending from the Rocky Mountains, brings you cascading astral riffs from in between the intergalactic folds. Cloud Catcher picks up where early Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Leaf Hound, and Shinki Chen left off, dipped in early Priest and Buffalo-era heavy rock, and encrusted in the timeless, astral vibes echoed by more recent heavy psychedelic act, Earthless. Cloud Catcher emits ethereal and aural enchantment that will mount you upon the comet tails of brilliant psychedelic resonance, enabling you to transcend time, and expelling you into a heavy, bluesy, hallucinatory, cosmic excursion. All this being said, these guys have created a unique, soulful, and vibronic sound that that is an invention all their own and is not to be overlooked. Lie back and enjoy it.
Current Location
Denver, CO
Artists We Also Like
MEDUSA, Today's Paramount, Dr. Zilog, Throne of Belial, KHEMMIS
Influences
Black Sabbath, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Earthless, ZZ Top, Robin Trower, Grand Funk Railroad, Pink Floyd, Spirit Caravan, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Captain Beyond, Rainbow, Blue Cheer, SLEEP, Dead Meadow, Santana, Cream, Hot Lunch, Lecherous Gaze, DANAVA, Mastodon
Email
rummingsrory@gmail.com
Website
http://cloud-catcher.bandcamp.com/
Booking Agent
rummingsrory@gmail.com

jshandman@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/GhostRadioJam

JUST THE MUSIC:

AT THE GRAVES - Golem / Heavy Ether

Cover artwork by Sarah Kimble.

At the Graves, a one-man doom metal project from Bawlmer. It's not your typical doom metal and nothing comes immediately to mind that it distinctly reminds me of. This is what I love about the one-man projects, it captures an intensely personal form of expression, like peeking in through the crack of a bedroom door. Whether it be Leviathan, Xasthur, Jandek or even Maze of Roots who was showcased here earlier this week, voyeurism must be admitted to play a role in the enjoyment of it. But At the Graves is less about "outsider art" and more about alchemy, combining elements to create a previously unseen substance, at least that how this two-song EP plays in these ears. It's up on bandcamp as a PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT download and is well worth checking out. If you take a close look at the awesome cover artwork you'll see that an otherwise beautiful moment has been de-saturated and manipulated to convey something chaotic and dark. In the world of At the Graves the familiar becomes confusing, possibly even frightening.

KOZA - Koza E.P.

This one's been out since last summer, but I only just came across it. Koza plays some greasy riffs with filthy vocals. The combination creates a slick style of sludge rock that's impossible to deny. The pace here moves from strut mode to exhilarating, one constant throughout, however is the desire to headnod / headbang. Koza draws inspiration from all over the musical map to create something unique while remaining indisputably 'metal'. Hip-Hop, and middle eastern touches (dare I say Mesopotamian (see cover)) sit side by side with Iommian riffs and hardcore swagger. The 8 songs on this EP feel expansive even though they're short, Koza can find breathing room in a tight, two-minute space by manipulating time signatures. The total run time is 24 minutes, but it feels like a whole meal.

GRISTNAM - Even Less

haarp was one of the most interesting and often challenging metal bands I've heard in the last couple years. They're gone now but from the ashes comes Gristnam, which features members of both haarp and the former Omean, whom I'd never heard before. 'Even Less' is a vinyl collection of Gristnam's first two EP's unpretentiously titled 'release1' and 'release2' (see players below). The first one came out in 2013 and completely flew past me, I'd never even heard of it. The second EP just came out a couple days ago. Where haarp were mad scientists with Frankenstein's monster song structures and hairpin turns often ranging compositions past the 8 minute mark, Gristnam plays the role of the snatch-and-grab thief. 'Even Less' is made up of a total of 11 songs but fails to reach the half hour mark and none of the songs reach a full three and a half minutes. They make their point, forcefully and without apologies then get out before the ambulance arrives. This is metal very much of the Louisiana spirit, no subgenre labels on this one, they throw a lot of different looks at you, but this is just metal. Good metal. You can find both EP's on bandcamp by clicking through the links on the players below. If you want it on vinyl, pick it up here.

HOWLING GIANT - Howling Giant EP

Cover artwork by Sue Davies.

This is a fun one. Fuzz rock with the kinetics of a bakini-babe monster flick and the high drama of a mid-70's Marvel comic book. But if you're expecting surf or punk rock with horror-themed lyrics, think again. There's an underlying current of power metal in some places or some thread of late 80's metal here. Howling Giant are at their best hear when they stretch out their legs in a longer composition, the six minute "Camel Crusher" is arguably their finest hour, allowing the fuzz to do the legwork. This band is the spiritual cousin of Wolfmen of Mars and new band Corman, but forge their own identity and don't come out much for family outings. This EP is catching on fairly quickly. It's always a surprising mystery what will catch on and what seems to lag behind. One of the reasons it's catching is that it's a PAY-WHAT-YOU-WANT download and ultimately, quite good.

GALLEON - Self-Titled

Incredibly, improbably, and against all odds, the great albums keep coming. This one was shared once again by MrStoneBeliever (seriously if you haven't subscribed to his youtube channel by now you're simply losing). This album is overgrown with warm fuzz and new ideas. The overall sound her isn't entirely unlike a Neon Warship crossed with The Kinks, if you can picture it. And let's throw in Sabbath, Zeppelin and the merest hint of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell for good measure. Hopefully you're starting to get the idea. This is amazing stuff, but only 31 minutes crammed into 10 short songs. Aside from that there's very little to nitpick about here. Check it out for yourself, nothing else sounds quite like this.

THORR-AXE - Gates of Winter

This one came out yesterday, Thorr-Axe's second album. Like their first, 'Wall of Spears' this is just some straight up primitive metal. If you've heard the band then you know what I'm talking about. These four young dudes use their energetic magic to conjure the true viking spirit once again, only this time the spirit is battle-weary, less inclined to jump head-long into the fray. A touch of doom greys the whiskers and intensifies the bite of cold landscapes on display. Ah, but there's still some fight left in those bronze age bones. Consider the band to be wise or selective berserkers here. It's hard to believe it's been four years since 'Wall of Spears' came out. I only found it about two years ago and it seemed fresh even then. Recommended for those who like their metal old, bold and frosty.

JUST THE FACTS (according to the band's facebook page):
Founded on November 2, 2007

Release Date: January 13, 2015

Genre: Blackened Doom for weird fucks.

Band Members
Tucker Thomasson: Guitar/ Vocals
Mitchell McKinney: Guitar
Garrett Daniels: Bass
Jacob Lett: Drums/ Vocals

Hometown: Bloomington, IN

Short Description
COLD FROSTY DOOM.

Long Description
"...a crushing rifforama that boldly sets all axes to bludgeon-mode. " - Pete Green at The Sleeping Shaman

Bio
Thorr-Axe is a raiding party comprised of four guys with a mutual love of heavy music. We belch forth tales of dragons, wizards, frost giants, and vikings putting axes through people's skulls.

G A T E S O F W I N T E R
c o m i n g
0 1 / 1 3 / 1 5
ON RIFF REAPER RECORDS

Our debut album "Wall of Spears" is out now. It's available on Bigcartel, CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes, and most other online music retailers. GO BUY IT!

Praise for "Wall of Spears":
"Put simply, this 9-song showcase is a feast of continent-sized riffs. Imagine The Sword taking on Amon Amarth for a late night Dungeons and Dragons battle with Matt Pike on hand to drink beer and advise The Sword on its strategy and you’re pretty much there." - Pete Green at The Sleeping Shaman

"Wall Of Spears invokes a raging world of wizards and warriors, hell-breathing dragons and a nice cold beer or 50 to celebrate the smashing of the enemy’s skull under the double-edged blade. This is the kind of record that sneaks up on unsuspecting souls before unleashing a Viking hammer between the eyes." - Nate Vaught at Forbidden Magazine

Buy our shit at: http://thorraxe.bigcartel.com/

Current Location: Bloomfield, IN

General Manager: Us. Email us at ThorrAxeofficial@gmail.com.

Artists We Also Like
Fister, Pallbearer, Cough, Thanasphere, Bongripper, Apostle of Solitude, Panopticon, Ode Vinter, Partiac Arrest, Mountain Grave

Influences
Metal.

Band Interests
Norse mythology, Tolkien, loud amplification, big stages, little stages, venues with no stages, outdoor fests, basement shows, living room shows, other band's shows, heavy music in general.

Website
www.thorr-axe.comhttp://www.myspace.com/thedoomwizardhtt://www.youtube.com/thorraxeofficial

Press Contact: Cat Jones at Southern Cross PR: southernxpr@gmail.com

Booking Agent: Us. thorraxeofficial@gmail.com

JUST THE MUSIC