Curated by Greg Anderson (Southern Lord) and Sam James Velde (Night Horse) with the intent to blur the lines between Metal, Hardcore, Punk and Rock music. To celebrate and encourage the cross over of genres and to dispel the common homogeny that exists within today’s music cultures. A free event that honors fans and musicians of ‘heavy music’ of all ages.

If I could describe this album in only a few words, I would call it Black Sabbath on steroids. Many of the riffs here do bring to mind Vol. 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but there is more: more energy, more volume, more head crushing. If Hello Master was the band just after inventing the tank, then Prior to the Fire is that same band dropping an atomic bomb on our minds.

Monolithic is not a word to be used casually. If you say it, you must truly mean it. In the past, few albums have managed to gain the title – Sleep’s Dopesmoker and Electric Wizard’s Come My Fanatics… are two of the few examples – but every once in a while, you find an album that can’t really be called anything else. Welcome to the world of Ancestors. This is monolithic.

Nebula – Heavy Psych released August 18, 2009 on Tee Pee Records Emerging from the depths of the gravity bong in the garage, this is fuzzed-out electric stoner blues that almost seems anachronistic, but who’s counting? (I guess I will…) A dozen years after their inception, they return to the label that spawned ‘em, with a new rhythm section in tow behind founder/ex-Fu Manchu guitarist, Eddie Glass. At 35 min, it’s also about as long as Let It Burn. Playing out like a long jam session, the album starts with a trifecta of goodness that ranges from spacey noodling [...read more]

Iron Age- “The Sleeping Eye” released August 4th, 2009 on TeePee Records Iron Age is a hardcore band from Austin, TX with a thrash metal influence that shows. “Dispossessed” has a decent early Metallica (Kill ‘Em All) feel with mildly-distorted guitar and pounding drums. Riffs are well structured and dark. “Burden Of Empire” continues the same influence but things pick up and it takes on a bit of Motorhead influence as well. “A Younger Earth” is more of the same influences and actually seems like the best of the three as well. The ending is space-y as well which [...read more]

Black Math Horseman – “Wyltt” released June 2, 2009 on Tee Pee Talk about a dark horse…this album completely blindsided me! L.A.-based, female-fronted, and produced by Scott Reeder (Kyuss), the quartet’s debut album is a grand exercise in dense beauty. From the alluring opening to the fierce finish, they always achieve balance in their compositions. Sera Timms’ ethereal vocals are rarely abandoned, though she receives backup help in “Origin of Savagery” and gets her scream on à la Laura Pleasants (Kylesa) in “Bird of All Faiths and None”. Intriguing, tale-telling lyrics fit the overall contemplative mood very well. Although [...read more]