Jay's Top 20 Releases Of 2015...

Christ! Where the hell did 2015 go? It disappeared in a bloody hurry didn't it?! Good riddance too, what with various religious and political zelots still kicking seven shades of shit out of each other, and natural disasters abound. Usually in the form of storms, floods, wildfires and Donald Trump. Not to mention the loss of BB King, Sir Christopher Lee, Scott Weiland and of course, our lord and saviour, Lemmy - yet leaving the likes of Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Kanye fuckin West unscathed. There really is no justice.
But it hasn't all been downers in the Burning Beard camp. We had a big revamp, remodel and rename and have been absolutely inundated with emails every day of the week. So much so that we've taken on three new writers - Martin, Richard and Andy. But onto the releases of the year. Not quite as volatile as the worlds current events, but not without their own ups and downs. We had a plethora of fantastic releases from all of our close friends independent labels and some fantastic returns to form from likes of Refused, Goatsnake and Valkyrie. A few middle of the road released from Windhand, The Sword and Clutch (sorry but something just didn't stick for me with those). Then my biggest let downs of the year in the shape of Uncle Acid's third album, Baroness's Purple and the debut from With The Dead. All of which I just expected more from. 

I've have seen few top 2015 releases lists over the last month and I cant help but feel that most bands have made their way in to some of them on name alone, and had many of those albums been released by unknown artists they wouldn't have even garnered a mention. So with that in mind the following list of my favourite releases of the year consist of not just albums, but EP's and demo's alike. They reside here not just because they've excelled expectation or surprised, but, to me, shown more passion, conviction, ingenuity and originality, giving them far more reason to make this list than many of the more well known artist's offerings of the last 12 months.
Enjoy.


20. Watchtower ~ Radiant Moon

Two big fat heavy slabs of doom from the Aussie trio. Heavier than a death in the family and beautifully pressed and put out on 10" by our friends over at Magnetic Eye Records.
Bandcamp

19. Rifflord ~ 26 Mean & Heavy

Dirty, heavy and kinda sounding like the Doors if they were to have gotten heavily in to weed, ouija boards and black masses. Dark fuzzy and riff hungry are always a great mix.
Bandcamp

18. Witchsorrow ~ No Light, Only Fire

A brilliant return from one of the UK's best and most humble doom acts. Retaining their full blooded heavy approach with a subtle nod to dooms classic origins.
Bandcamp

17. Blackout ~ Blackout

Riding Easy Records began the first quarter of the year with yet another brilliant discovery in Brooklyn based trio Blackout. Deceptively sludgy and psychedelic in equal measures, don't let the albums cover fool you.
Bandcamp

16. Ufomammut ~ Ecade

This long awaited follow up to 2012's Oro double album didn't fail to impress. In fact, the only thing to out do the albums content was the deluxe version of the LP, in all its silkscreened hand made beauty.

Bandcamp

15. Acid†Priest ~ Outta Control 

A near perfect combination of occult style rock mixed with a hint of punk aesthetics. Acid Priest gave similar acts like Uncle Acid and Satans Satyrs a run for their money, and in my eyes well and truly beat them.

Bandcamp

14. Kaleidobolt ~ Kaleidobolt

Our friends over at Pink Tank Records have done a great job at digging out some fantastic psych bands over the last couple of years, and none come more thrillingly psych'y than Kaleidobolt.

Bandcamp

13. Egypt ~ Endless Flight

Just making the 2015 list with their late in the year entry, Egypt finally return with their first full length album in over 2 years... and it's a fuel guzzling desert rock monster. Look out for the LP release later this year.

Bandcamp

12. Yuri Gagarin ~ At The Center Of All Infinity

After teasing us earlier in the year with the Sea Of Dust EP the Swedish space rockers finally dropped their best work to date, and it's as trippy, spacey and heavy as I could have ever hoped.

Bandcamp

11. Waingro ~ Mt. Hood

I was a big fan of the Canadian's 2014 self titled release and when I heard they'd pressed themselves a second release I snapped it up without hesitation. Once again, the furious trio have well and truly smashed it out the park.

Bandcamp

10. Barbarian Fist ~ The Whorelord Cometh

I took a punt and bought this LP sight unseen. Or hear unheard. Is that a thing? Anyway. I bought it solely on the cover and I have not one single regret. It's like the soundtrack to a Viking stag party. Bloody brilliant.

Bandcamp

9. Glowsun ~ Beyond The Wall Of Time

A beautifully groove filled return from the French psych rock masters that seemed to fly under many peoples radar. Which is a bloody sacrilege as is a brilliantly executed progression from their first two releases.

Bandcamp

8. Kadavar ~ Berlin

When it came to Kadavar I could always take them or leave them. But this drastically ambitious change of pace and sound really paid off, making Berlin one of my biggest surprises of 2015.

Bandcamp

7. Moon Curse ~ Spirit Remains

Showing a huge step forward in almost every aspect of album creation, Spirit Remains has cemented Wisconsin's Moon Curse as being true giant slayers when it comes to the whole occult/acid rock genre. Go get the vinyl from Bilocation Records while you can!

Bandcamp

6. Red Sun Atacama ~ Part. 1

This little known French trio really blew my hair back with their high octane EP Part. 1. If they can keep up the same highly addictive and satisfyingly furious pace of this beauty then I really can't wait to hear what they've got in store for this year.

Bandcamp

5. Indian Handcrafts ~ Creeps

Another release that really came out of left field for me. Fuzzy, frantic and fantastically original, Indian Handcrafts won't fail to get you stomping your feet and air drumming within an matter of minutes.

Bandcamp

4. Top Dead Celebrity ~ High Horse

One of my most anticipated returns for a long long time. Utah's Top Dead Celebrity have been one of my favourite bands since I first discovered them about eight years go. High Horse didn't disappoint either, residing high up in my iTune all time top 25 most played albums. 

Bandcamp

3. Dr Colossus ~ Shut Up & Eat Your Pinecone/Whack Sabbath

Another small morsel teasing at an album that just can't come quick enough for me. The Simpsons inspired stoner doom aficionados from down under once again gave us fantastic riffs coupled with killer lyrics. A winning combo in anyones book.

Bandcamp

2. Bedroom Rehad Corp. ~ Fortunate Some

This was easily my best new discovery of 2015. Heavy, groovy, thunderous and pleasing in every aspect. Bedroom Rehab Corp pulled off an absolute blinder with Fortunate Some and have me itching for full length in 2016.

Bandcamp

1. Elder ~ Lore

Eager anticipation seldom delivers overwhelming satisfaction. Lore however was one hell of an exception. Arriving early in the year, from day one, Elder's third album never received much competition when it came to toppling it from my top five. With a stage show to rival the album's awesomeness Lore, for me, was a highlight of the year.

Bandcamp

~

Honourable Mentions...

~

Raedon Kong Interview

Raedon Kong's new album Critical Paths came out back in November of this year, making a great impression as soon as it arrived (you can read our review of it right here). 

The duo of David Leonard and Stephen Sheppert were kind enough to give us some of their time for questions about their backgrounds, the new album, and a few other things, so read on!

The Burning Beard: Hi, thanks for giving us some of your time for this interview.  Why don't we start with each of you introducing yourselves and sharing some of your musical background, from stuff you listened to while growing up, all the way to how you got into playing music yourselves?

David: My name is David Leonard, born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana.  My musical background is a little bit of band class in elementary and middle school where I played trombone.  When I was in middle school, my brother Brian was in a classic rock band which practiced at our parent’s house, so I got to watch them and I paid most attention to their drummer.  I soon realized that I wanted to play the drum set… this was 1990-'91 era.  I bought my first drum set in the summer of 1993 and started a band with my friends.

Basically, as a kid I listened to everything popular like Michael Jackson, The Police, Rush, and just a lot of radio music as well as classic rock like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.
Towards the late 80's I started listening to a lot of Metallica and Iron Maiden.  As I got a little older I got heavily into hardcore and punk music as well as more extreme and obscure metal and hardcore bands – a lot of crossover bands.  Basically, I grew up listening to punk/hardcore, heavy metal, progressive rock, experimental and a lot of pop music.

Stephen:  I was also born and raised in Cajun country.  I was raised on rock and roll from an early age thanks to my vinyl-collecting pops, who is also a musician and serious music fan.  Had guitars laying around in every room so it was inevitable that I’d pick one up.  Went through the school band thing, which I believe to have been beneficial when it comes to composing and understanding dynamics.  

In my early teens I pretty much watched MTV all day with guitar in hand and learned every hair metal song I could.  BIG STEVE VAI FAN.  Gradually the grunge invasion came along, as did a heavy dose of skateboarding.  I discovered Sonic Youth, Quicksand, Fugazi, Primus, etc., through skate vids and [the MTV show] 120 Minutes.   Around that time a friend I met through skating asked if I could burn a disc for him.  It was Evil Twin, an album by Hammerhead.  I had never heard of them, but my life pretty much changed then.  I got a big muff pedal and ended up joining the band Icepick Revival.  

I was exposed to a lot of great bands during that time: Today Is The Day, Keelhaul, Dazzling Killmen, Zeni Geva, early Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.  Relapse [Records] and Amphetamine Reptile [Records] were on fire at that time, and I truly believe that was a high point for underground heavy experimental music.
When Icepick Revival disbanded, I started Collapsar (on Escape Artist [Records]) which was a tech metal project that I needed to get out of my system.  Eventually, Collapsar faded out, and that's when I started jamming with Dave to form Raedon Kong.

TBB: How did Raedon Kong come together?

David: One of Stephen's previous bands, Collapsar, had called it a day, and I was not playing with anyone, and we were in different bands in the scene here in Lafayette, knowing each other peripherally, so we just got together and started jamming.  Basically.

Stephen:  Yeah, I knew Dave was a good off the wall drummer; his previous band Arma/Hooves was a killer project.  I guess Raedon Kong started with the mindset of no barriers; just play what comes to mind, whether it’s heavy or not.

TBB: What was the reasoning behind sort-of naming your band after actress Rae Dawn Chong?

David: The name comes from the actress… it rhymed… it sounded really cool and larger than life, so we kept it.

Stephen: Yeah, we made a list of names and kept coming back to it.  A little humor always helps.  Plus she’s pretty hot, right, and has a great lineage.

TBB: What were some of those other names you almost used, if you can dredge them out of memory?

Stephen: That was a long time ago.  I think one possible name was "Suicides in Japan" and another might have been "Xamot" - a reference to an old GI Joe character.  They were pretty lame, so we stuck with Raedon Kong.

TBB: Your first album and EP were self-released, but your new album, Critical Paths, is being handled by the Hell Comes Home label, which is based in Ireland.  Given that RK is a Louisiana band, how did you end up with HCH for this release?

David: Stephen sent our album to about ten thousand record labels, and Joel replied with interest in releasing our album on vinyl, so we said OK and it's now actually out there for everyone to hear, which is really exciting! Thanks Joel!

Stephen:  Yeah, I sent the album out to every label I could think of, just for shits and giggles.  Probably 1% listened to 10 seconds of it.  We were seriously days away from releasing it ourselves when Joel from Hell Comes Home contacted us through Facebook.  He dug our old stuff and was interested, so I've gotta give thanks to him for coming through in the clutch like that.  Crazy to think, but some of the riffs on Critical Paths were written in 2012.  We recorded the album mid-2014, just took time to get it out.

TBB: What are your song-writing habits like?  Have they changed noticeably since your first album together?

David: Stephen writes a lot of riffs, we sift, and we sift, and we combine, and jam, and we sift, and eventually, voila!

Stephen:  You know, I used to come to practice with complete compositions that I had written on the couch, but playing with Dave and his freestyle approach to drumming kinda opened up the song-writing process.  Pretty much now I may bring a 'couch jam nugget' to jam, but then leave everything open to be written as we play.  Kind of a shotgun/stream of consciousness approach.  We record everything so we usually sift out the tasty jams after listening.

TBB: How has Raedon Kong been received at the live shows you've played?  Any experiences or reactions, good or bad, that really stand out in your memory?

David: We usually get a really positive response from those that come out to hear us.

Stephen:  We usually get the 'man you guys are great but if you had a bass player…'.  Or wait no… how about 'you guys ever heard of Big Business?”  Mostly though, our shows are just a bro sesh; lots of jamming, beer-drinking, reminiscing with old friends.

TBB: Are there any bands with whom you've really enjoyed playing a show, maybe feel might fit well with you for a split release?

David: Eat The Witch, from New Orleans.

Stephen:  Man, I have a good time jamming with most anyone.  The now defunct Skycrawler (from Austin) was good.  Also, Darsombra from Baltimore are always a treat and a trip.

TBB: What do you enjoy hearing in the music you listen to in your own time, whether it's to relax or get energized?

David: If it moves me I will listen to it.  There is too much to mention in an interview, but if I were to pull from the top of my head, it would be Pink Floyd's Animals.

Stephen:  +1 on the Pink Floyd Animals.  I’m a little burnt out on it due to 1000+ listens.  Mostly Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson lately.  Jammed the entire Keelhaul catalogue the other day.  Will Scharf forever.  A little Zebulon Pike, Pinkish Black, maybe some Death sprinkled here and there.  Bought an album by John Lurie called The Voice of Chunk the other day.  Interesting album.  Youtube that shite.

TBB: Are there any bands you've come across recently that you would recommend our readers should make a point to check out?  On the other side of that, are there any bands, metal or otherwise, that you feel have been getting way too much hype lately?

David: If I may be so bold, I'd say that Raedon Kong needs more hype!

Stephen:  Well, I'd have to rely on my old faithfuls; Zeni Geva, Keelhaul, Dazzling Killmen, King Crimson, Mahavishnu Orchestra.  If you haven’t jammed that stuff, get on it.  As far as bands that get a lot of hype, aren’t most if not all of them watered down a bit?  I’ve been hearing some really strong opinions both for and against this band Ghost.  I guess I need to check 'em so I can be that guy on Facebook.  Kanye? 

TBB: How did you settle on the artwork for Critical Paths, and who created it?

David: I painted this picture because I grew up watching Bob Ross paint happy trees, and I always loved doing artwork and wanted to start oil painting, so I tried it and came up with this image.  Years later I showed it to Stephen as a possible option for cover art… he liked it, so we used it for Critical Paths.  As far as artwork, it is whatever works at the time… maybe we'll use someone else's artwork next time.

TBB: What's in the near future for Raedon Kong?

David: We are likely to start writing again and play some shows.

Stephen:  Not sure about the musical direction but we'll most likely leave it open to whatever comes. 

TBB: Anything else you'd like to say to our readers?

David: Thanks for your time and interest in our music, and hopefully we can create more.

Stephen:  Thanks to anyone that has checked our albums out and supported us.  That’s the stuff that keeps bands going.  Stay tuned.

TBB: Thanks very much for your time, and for the excellent music!

~ Interview by Gabriel

Gabriel's Top 20 Albums Of 2015

Well, it's that time again.  Hard to believe another year has come and gone already, but there were a ton of great releases over the past twelve months, and as usual, not nearly enough time to listen to all of them.  The list that follows is restricted to those full albums that I did have a chance to lay my ears on this year, and even with that limit, carving it down to just twenty selections was almost painfully difficult.  If there's an album you feel should have made the Top 20, just pipe up with a comment, here or on our Facebook link, and I'll try to fit investigating it into my schedule for 2016.  Here's hoping the new year treats all of you kindly, and that the musical offerings are at least half as good as what we were treated to this year.  Cheers!

#20. Bell Witch - Four Phantoms

"Considered on its own terms...Four Phantoms is an elegant (though bulky) construction, with the longing wails and tortured chords forming an inexorable journey towards oblivion (thematically, at least)."

BandCamp

#19. Earthshine - Doomed to Wander and Never Die

"Building on a broad doom metal base, the group emphasizes atmosphere and slow, haunting riffs, with growling vocals which work to strengthen the music instead of just roaring over it."

BandCamp

#18. Terminal Cheesecake - Cheese Brain Fondue

"Twisting and turning through abstract feedback and body-moving riff revving, TC decisively show that their skills haven't rusted in the slightest during their time away from the public."
BandCamp

#17. Heavydeath - Eternal Sleepwalker

"It all works to hypnotic effect, as the slower passages enact enough of a lulling effect for the hard attacks to arrive more dramatically, and the down-shifts of the other direction taking advantage of the residual rawness."
BandCamp

#16. Dorthia Cottrell - Dorthia Cottrell

"[W]ith a reliance on extended repetition of chorus lines the only overt fault, Cottrell sounds perfectly at home with the company of sparse chords and her clear-ringing voice."
BandCamp

#15. Dead Hand - Storm of Demiurge

"It's a smooth and well-constructed ramp into the subterranean sludge which forms most of the album, and with it, Dead Hand quickly establish their fondness for unearthing new facets of each song with a natural-feeling flow to the changes."
BandCamp

#14. Wizard Cult - Meteorites, Tektites & Impactites

"Over the course of the four tracks, it feels as though every time the trio let their minds drift away to explore the wide-ranging spaciness in the psych side of their music, they're ready with a mean club-swing of doom to knock out anyone whose guard got lowered by the siren call of the whammy pedal."
BandCamp

#13. Headless Kross - Volumes

"Consisting of just three tracks, but stretching out to three-quarters of an hour, Volumes finds Headless Kross spooling out heavy clouds of fuzz, feedback, and grimy tones punctured and punctuated by the powerful drum-beats, and clearly not giving a damn when it comes to holding back."
BandCamp

#12. Behold! The Monolith - Architects of the Void

"Warm production and slight hints of humor, along with faint touches of stoner/psych head-warping, draw the music into something with more character than aggressive doom metal usually achieves, offering up something that earns the repeated plays fans of the album will find themselves compelled to hear."
BandCamp

#11. Kaleidobolt - Kaleidobolt

"Prog, heavy metal, krautrock, doom, jazz, and others make their mark on the main heart of the music, with the band adeptly juggling them all into a colorful blur, and throwing more tricks in with each track, though they never let the technicality overwhelm the essential blistering drive."
BandCamp

#10. Ksyatriya - The Arduous Search for Freedom

"Things start out relatively subdued... with the title track slowly humming its way into being with emergent vibrations and melodies weaving themselves together, mostly driven by down-tuned guitar with synth touches bubbling underneath.  By the arrival of the second track, "Hazchem", there's a well-established mood of subtle doom, though the band is quick to overturn any dogmatic preservation of the gloom for its own sake."
BandCamp

#9. Weedpecker - II

"Heaviness, hard riffs, mellow cruising bridges, and pound after pound of leafy limberness with curling the songs around from one way into half a dozen others before it's out gives the new album a spine-jellying potency born of whatever's in Poland's water to make their heavy music groups so damn good."
BandCamp

#8. Goya - Obelisk

"Hearing the band tear loose with the guitar-shredding, feedback, and drums as the bass steam-rolls the way is enough to over-rule the usual pace of psych doom in favor of 'fuck it, let's go fast,' and "Obelisk" makes one Hell of an argument in its favor... It's a magnificently-assembled album, with the performances ranging from nailed-down to wild abandon in pleasing proportion, strong riffs throughout, and a real mean edge to it all."
BandCamp

#7. Disenchanter - Strange Creations

"Disenchanter seem to have picked up some extra speed since their last EP, with battering rolls of percussion, slick-fingered chord progressions, and some use of overlapping vocals all working to keep things vibrant without taking too much away from the heaviness... At its heart, though, the album stays true to the doom-power of their earlier efforts, just turbo-charged into jolting liveliness."
BandCamp

#6. ØLTEN - Mode

"The trio works well together in the absence of vocals, and there's a nice woodsy feel to the music, for all of its amp-powered resonance, coming to life somewhere in the buzz of the strings and the ringing between beats... The variation from song to song comes mainly in tempo and intensity, but the group's roots are so firmly dug into heavy earth that it all slips together into one spine-melting experience."
BandCamp

#5. Reptensol - Maelstrɔsm

"Finally available to the public after the band's decision to go the self-release route, the oddities (and storminess) of Maelstrɔsm hardly end with the title, as they blend together psych, stoner, thrash, doom, and several other styles into a fast-changing and violently inventive set of tracks that keep the surprises coming from start to finish... [E]ach track comes out hard and ready to beat your brains in, but with enough tightness on the reins for the band to steer it in any direction they like... It's a far cry from the standard stoner rock, and the experimentation rarely falters or hits a false step."
BandCamp

#4. Dead Existence - Endless Misery

"Howls, groans, bellows, and death rattles materialize from the instruments and vocals, with the band bringing their chosen album title to life in all the right ways, and only rarely relenting in the inexorable crush.  Some blackened crispiness to the guitar at times helps push the dagger even deeper, and after the first few tracks, you've got little choice but to simply accept the beating the band is going to lay down.  As the beating moves into more existential and cosmic territory, the steam-rolling done by the earlier tracks destroys the resistance that might save you from their torturous knowledge."
BandCamp

#3. Venus Sleeps - Dead Sun Worship

"The bass gives you enough reverb to start swimming on air if your stereo's loud enough, but there's a crispness to the mixing that lets it co-exist with the higher registers of everything else without crushing the life out of them.  The guitar gets so psychedelic at times as to pass for a wildly-modded synth, and well-used echo effects on the vocals let them sink right in to the crushed-velvet mind-trip, guiding your ears through the maze of amps and tones as the music unwinds... Despite the length of the songs, the album glides right along... the band has me roped into needing to play this over and over[.]"
BandCamp

#2. Crown Larks - Blood Dancer

"Opening with "Gambian Blue Wave", the sextet blend blues, psychedelic, alternative, heavy rock, and jazz into an unpredictable but always-engaging whirlwind of moods and styles, jack-knifing around the tempo range and always seeking something new to try.  Taking any one of the tracks out of the full line-up just doesn't do the group's range justice, given that the contrast between their off-the-walls pieces and more 'rainy day' material... benefits both sides when taken as a whole."
BandCamp

#1. Mamaleek - Via Dolorosa

"The duo of Mamaleek continue their tradition of reinvention with their latest album, which finds them performing blues with a harshness evocative of black metal or the meaner sort of sludge.  Though the harshness isn’t a constant presence, the times when it drops back down to a calmer performance (as it does several times, often for long stretches) play to a sense of its transience, with the incoming crash or howl looming on the audio horizon... the density of sound covering a range from sparse instrumentation to pounding dins and the inventive blending of styles is fantastic."

BandCamp

~

Spawning A New Beast...

Mammoth Salmon - Last Vestige of Humanity (2015)

We've covered Mammoth Salmon here before (check here to see our review of their Call of the Mammoth EP, and here for their Internet EP 2), so it's good to see them putting out their first full LP.  Even better, they've really brought the thunder for this one, with massive riffs powered by thick bass, sizzling guitar, and heavy drums deployed with a great sense of when to kick back and let things ride a bit easier.
Tracks like the excellently-titled (and appropriately distorted) "Acid Casualty" and album closer "Believe Nothing" take the usual methods of stoner doom to almost funky modes of expression, while elsewhere, as in the opener "Ad Nauseam" and the title track, they plow ahead with some savage, sludgy fury.  Traveling between the two energy extremes, they find room for some excellent grooves and crescendos (and it's worth giving special mention to the rolling drum salvo which cracks open "Memoriam").
It's a little sad to see the clustered intricacies of their earlier cover art get toned down a bit for this release, but then again, they may have a better shot at pulling in new listeners if they aren't getting overloaded by all those whorls and tangles at first sight.  And this is an album that really deserves to be heard, not just by old hands of stoner doom, but by those in need of a great album to really draw them in to the genre.  Mammoth Salmon have done themselves proud here, showing strong command of the style's essence while drawing in some extra elements to ensure freshness.  Don't let this one slip by you in the end-of-year confusion.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Dopelord, Gallileous, MotherSloth, Sleep, Wolf Blood

Facebook • BandCamp

Mammoth Salmon - Acid Casualty (320 kbps)

~