Shake, Battle, and Bowl...

Ladybird - Tombstoned (2013)

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting to hear on this album, as the only other thing I've heard from Ladybird (so far) is their gargantuan Spliff & Wesson, but there's certainly a change of pace on Tombstoned.  For one thing, they've doubled the number of songs (bringing it up to four), with Intro, Papers, No Reason, and Marble Orchard; Marble Orchard steals the show with its big finish (clocking 22 minutes), but the journey up to it holds plenty of surprises.  That's a relief, considering how little variance there usually is when a band releases two albums in the same month, as the industrious lads in Ladybird did with Tombstoned and Spliff & Wesson back in August.
Intro is a sedate steel-guitar rambler, picking along with occasional dusty back-roads noises making their presence known, and bringing some of the desert isolation from their home in Arizona to life, before Papers steps quickly into a doomy sludge assault, making strings and feedback hum as if both are about to snap; No Reason slides smoothly in on a snail-trail of fuzzy rumbling before breaking out the bleary-eyed psychedelic wavering of the guitar; and Marble Orchard begins with a sinister old-timey movie sample, then moves back into the malignant desert feel of the previous songs, blown up to a size where all you can really do is surrender and let it wash through your ears. Altogether, it's a very respectable and palatable compromise between the Stonehenge-sized sludge of Spliff & Wesson, and something that shakes listeners by the throat a little less insistently. Go on, try it! The first one's free!
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;  Sleep, Electric Wizard, Windhand, Acid King, Meth Drinker

BandCamp

Papers (320 kbps)

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Doom And Back Again...

Ladybird - Spliff & Wesson (2013)

The first of two albums released by Ladybird this August (stay tuned to find out about the other in a few days), Spliff & Wesson is, to put it simply, massive. There's only two tracks, but the titles alone give an idea of what's in store; there's Spliff & Wesson, then Nossew & Ffilps, both of them hovering around the 24-minute mark. The first pulls the listener to the middle of the album with a dangerous undertow of bass with enough reverb to make your speakers rumble across the floor, sun-cooked desert rock guitar soup with big doomy production, and enough undulating harmonics to get your head good and properly reeling before it's spooled out across the floor. The B-side (Spliff & Wesson is currently only on CD and cassette, but keep your fingers crossed for a vinyl release!), Nossew & Ffilps, takes everything from the first track and straight-up plays it in reverse! And it works! For 24 more minutes! Pardon me if I seem over-excited, but such a bold move, fixing the success of the album on an ability to compose not only normally, but in reverse, is infrequent enough that having it actually roll its heavy way backwards across that duration (with some fine doom pay-off) makes it almost auto-legendary. Personal prediction: This one will be listed alongside Sleep's Dopesmoker in years to come, for reasons of swirling, riff-loving technique, being colossal, and being a challenging but highly rewarding experience. Beat the rush while you can, get a copy now, listen to it in a dark room, and dig it.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of; Sleep, Bongripper, Ufomammut, Tons, Wicked Lady

BandCamp

Spliff & Wesson (320 kbps)



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Look In The Sky... It's Doom...

Ladybird - Demo (2012)

I remember watching this documentary about the rock underground scene in America from the 70’s to present day, and this one guy gave an explanation of what exactly is “Doom”? And he explained it as “a gut, like, a real, visceral, uh, emotional pull, something that’ll make you cry!” I think that Ladybird is a prime example of what he was talking about. I found that Ladybird, a doom metal band coming from Phoenix, Arizona, was strangely appealing to me, and the fact that this is really the first doom band that I’ve truly enjoyed listening to, deserves some recognition. I think that these guys were able to demonstrate a functional mix between stoner music and doom by having a combination of slow and brutal riffs played out by extremely fuzzy guitars, a slow to mid-tempo drum beat driven by crashing cymbals, a ground-rumbling bass and of course, demon-like screaming. Usually, these musical elements can make me want to turn the music off, but Ladybird has done an excellent job in introducing me into the genre.

As you guys must already know by my other reviews, I love good intros, and Ladybird has some killer introductions to every one of their songs. Whether it’s a simple riff played by one instrument in a cleaner tone, or if it’s ear-wrenching feedback (in a good way, of course), Ladybird knows how to get a listener’s attention, and my appreciation. Because this album is merely a demo for something greater that is yet to come, I can excuse its iffy mixing, but what they have accomplished really shows commitment and potential in the music they’re making

Check these guys out on their bandcamp page and, if possible, show them some support by paying a little money for this sweet demo.

For Fans Of; Iron Monkey, Sourvein, Raging Speedhorn, Dopefight, Gurt

Facebook • Bandcamp

Demo (320kbps)