LK Ultra's Top Albums for 03/28/15

Top 25 Albums

#). artist - album title

1. Shepherd - Stereolithic Riffalocalypse
2. Acid King - Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere***
3. Pombagira - Flesh Throne Press
4. Queen Crescent - Self-Titled
5. John Carpenter - Lost Themes*
6. The Atomic Bitchwax - Gravitron***
7. Lord of Doubts - Into the Occult†
8. Stoned Jesus - The Harvest
9. Bretus - The Shadow Over Innsmouth
10. Saturnalia Temple - To The Other
11. Wooden Stake - A Feast of Virgin Souls
12. Strange Broue - Self-Titled
13. Crowned in Earth - Metempsychosis
14. Kabbalah - Primitve Stone EP
15. Alucarda - Raw Howls
16. Venus Sleeps - Dead Sun Worship
17. Evil Invaders - Pulses of Pleasure*
18. Misty Grey - Grey Mist
19. Evil Spirit - Caulron Messiah††
20. Doomraiser - Reverse
21. Black Rainbows - Hawkdope
22. Boar - Veneficae***
23. Taken By the Sun - Self-Titled
24. «Wicked Inquisition - Self-Titled***
25. Dopethrone - Hochelaga***

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*Album available on itunes

** Streaming only
*** Pre-order only
† Available on cassette only
†† Available on vinyl and cassette only
††† Available on vinyl only

☠No release available yet

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ALBUM Spotlight on:

SHEPHERD – ‘Stereolithic Riffalocalypse’

I woke up one day in early February to find the world in the clutches of Sheppo-mania. Everybody and their uptight older brother had downloaded the new album from Indian stoner / sludge wunderkinds Shepherd. Newsfeeds clogged, sharing reached epidemic proportions and nobody was dissatisfied. The Bangalorean trio then topped off an otherwise successful month with an appearance on the reviewer / podcaster aggregated top albums list The Doom Charts with the #4 spot. Now, to top off March, they have reached all new absurd heights of glory by taking your humble narrator's top spot for the week's best albums. Is there no end to Shepherd's tyrannical, terrifying momentum?!?!

For those in the know, Bangalore has built up a great reputation in recent years as a heavy metal haven in India and Shepherd may be the city's finest export yet. Though I'll readily admit I'm no expert. But if they are, they've done it with music and not image, they've done it with variety, quality, originality and a sense of humor. All eight songs on the 45-minute opus are excellent and though the band establishes an identity there's enough variation between the songs to keep things interesting throughout. The music is always based around huge heavy riffs and sticky melodies. There are grungy moments of dark harmonies and there's just enough bite in the vocals to appeal to both clean singing and extreme metal fans. But don't think the band are people pleasers, with song titles like "Black Cock of Armageddon", "Turdspeak" and "Wretch Salad" it's evident that they don't care what people think of them and that's refreshing to see in a world of P.C. nazis and obsessive social networkers.

With a place at the top of my list of personal favorite albums it goes without say that I highly recommend this album, but it's worth doubling-down on the recommendation (the entire list above is a recommendation). I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that 'Stereolithic Riffalocalypse' will break the bank with an appearance on most stoner/doom/sludge year-end lists, if you haven't heard the band yet, again they're at the top of this list, click the link and enter a world of hurt.