Queen Elephantine - Scarab (2013)

I've always been extra-busy, and this year wasn't anything different, so, I'd like to apologize from all the bands who have sent me review requests, including Queen Elephantine, the fabulous space rockers, who, being unaware of the fact that I've been a fan of their music for quite a long time, sent me an email about a year ago. Their most recent album, "Scarab", is also a terribly underrated one, probably because the stoner scene is more interested in horseshit like Kvelertak. In any case, if you're into the ritualistic drone and psychedelia of Expo '70, Harvestman, Bong, and Ginnungagap or the minimalist music of La Monte Young, Charlemagne Palestine, Popol Vuh, and everything in between, you're gonna adore Queen Elephantine.

They've slowly moved away from the drone doom conventions, and "Scarab" marks the pinnacle of their deviations, where the songs don't tend to follow a groove but an idea, precisely what makes the record a great example of experimental rock/metal as well. Yet to me it seems that there're more walls of limits left to be broken, and I believe if they can accept the fact that there won't be any difference in the level of attention they'll get if they break those as well, they'll make one of the most perfect avant rockers of the decade.

Earth - Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II (2012)

The 90's Earth has been my church for years. It's been this ocean of ideas floating around, which, no matter how many times I've considered to be through with it, always has proved to have something fresh underneath, next time that I returned to it -- sort of like Jarmusch in cinema, with the exception of the sense of humor. On the other hand, the so called post-rock Earth of the 00's might be seen as less universal, and more of a safe ground for Dylan Carlson to continue working on a singular idea that is, acid folk played in a drone fashion. The idea started, for all we know, with the release of "HEX", in 2005, but it has plagued whatever they've done, ever since. "Hibernaculum", "The Bees Made Honey In The Lion's Skull" and the duology of "Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light", have all been variations on the same theme. Yet, the second volume of "Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light", released earlier this year, made me come back a number of times, mainly because of its instrumentation, and the rather variant tone it is carried through.

Bong - Bethmoora (2008)

What does the word 'Bong' remind you? Bongzilla? Bongripper? These guys are simply Bong; some freaks who diametrically know what they are doing, which is a sinister re-imagining of psychedelia, within the drone doom domain. It's as if Om were supposed to work on an album like Sunn's "Black One" -- yes, precisely, if that were the case, the result would have been "Bethmoora". The album contains three songs; all of them running over 20 minutes. A highly experimental record one might asses, but the length here plays the same role it does in La Monte Young's, that is nothing. Nothing? Indeed. The time here is thoroughly ignored, or better say; suspended. The entire sonic astration takes more than an hour and it barely exceeds four musical themes, and yet, Bong's music has a lot to do with the beat, and it is nowhere as close as the "Earth 2 Special Low-Frequency Version"-type drone. It would be thus more proper to call Bong, purveyors of slow-motion kosmische metal, rather than drone doom.