Here is an album that chops off your head and shits down your throat. 12 minutes of furiously paced grind. Beefy like bison, fast like cheetah, strong as ox, unrelenting like a razorback swine and about as resilient as a honey badger. This album was a pube away from making it into my top for 2011...which I will be posting tomorrow on the first day of the new year.
Exactly 366 days ago I started this blog up and I'd say I rounded up at least a couple loyal viewers.
Thank you to those who make frequent visits, banter in comments, send me recommendations, click the download links and hopefully support the shit you do like.
David Gold, driving force and mind of Wood of Ypres passed away last night (December 22) in a car accident hours away from where I am typing this shit-hole out (Barrie, Ontario). Not the best text message to wake up to in the morning, hearing about it from a close friend.
I had discussed having an interview with Mr. Gold only about a week ago, and I was eerily listening to The Deepest Roots and Darkest Blues while out for a run the day he passed away. I remember thinking to myself 'Hey you know what, the fuck is wrong with me? I haven't yet posted this brilliant album on my blog for the Severed Head legion scum to check out, I'll do that later tonight'. Though I never got around to it, because I was watching Game of Thrones instead like a true fucking dicksmith.
If I was a believer in anything, I would say a part of me knew this was coming. But let's be real here, I didn't. The world just decided to swallow a more undeserving humanoid than those bile human beings who shove glass vases up their asses until bloody rectum ensues.
This dude was a passionate and patriotic Canadian with a genuine passion for all things music, if someone ever made me stop and think "Living in the Northern Cold does kind of fucking rule!", it was this man. I do recall having a conversation with him one night while he was in Kuwait about a local beer we both loved by the name of 'Steam Whistle', I was joking about doing a 'Steam Whistle' Woods of Ypres t-shirt design. Fuck.
Here it is, oozing in patriotic glory, The Deepest Roots and Darkest Blues. If you don't like it, I don't even want to hear about it. Better yet, never come back around these here parts, your kind isn't welcome here.
Oh right fuck, I have a blog I should post on. We have been over this whole charade before many a time. I host no feeling of obligation in explaining why I have been absent simply because fuck you. Ok no, come back, I love you.
I believe music blogs are best when they are updated on the daily with interesting and exciting shit for loyal readers to steal from. I want to be this, but being this isn't entirely feasible all the time. Try as I may, try as I might.
Upcoming will be my top albums of 2011, and some interviews with some dudes.
Stay tuned.
Seriously, I go out of my way to hate music like this. Why? Because, it's popular and a large group of fedora wearing dicksmiths who have every intention to remain ironic and against the grain as they possibly can will sit here and try to tell you how it defines music. but the reality of it is, I am no better than any of them, I really just need people to hate, and hate I will do.
Moving on. This album is pretty tits though. No music defining here, just some groovy ass tunes that kind of make me want to grow a beard, throw on a flannel, fill a flask with gin, and go fishing. Nothing at all wrong with that. If you need bleaker.
Jeff: Me. 12cm!
Xavier: But he has the smallest cock of the band.
Jeff: How do you know that?
3) You guys are not listed in the Metal Archives, let's fix that. Shall we? I will even write the first review.
We've just submitted the band on Metal Archives, but it can't be approved because we have no physical release yet.
4) Which five albums out in 2011 will be on The Great Old Ones top 2011 list?
Jeff: Ulcerate - Destroyers of All
Ben: Wolves in the throne room - Celestial Lineage
Sebastien: Altar of Plagues - Mammal
Xavier: Deafhevean - Roads to Judah
Léo: Rihana - Talk That Talk!
5) Be honest, have you ever found anything you enjoyed listening to on this blog? If so, what:
Xavier: We already know some bands you talk about on your blog, but I really enjoyed listening to Italy's The Secret! Great discover, just saw that they signed on Southern Lord.
6) Does anyone in the band have any cool H.P. Lovecraft inspired tattoos?
Ben: Nope. Jeff is the only band member who has tatoos, but we really can't show you a picture without hurting your psychological health...
7) Black Sabbath or Dio?
Black Sabbath! No discussion.
8) Which three bands influence the sound of The Great Old Ones the most?
Wolves in the throne room, Year of no Light, Neurosis
9) Are there any upcoming international tours planned for The Great Old Ones anytime soon?
We really want to tour in Europe in 2012, but we have nothing planned yet. We're actively searching.
10) What are the winters like in Bordeaux, France?
Sebastien: Snowy and foggy. with wolves everywhere!
Ben: Rainy. But that leaves us time to compose new material and rehearse for live shows.
11) When is the debut album set for release, and where can we who still purchase CD's buy it?
April for CD's and digital, June/July for the LP. It will be released by Antithetic Records (US) and LADLO Productions (FR)
12) You guys have been in the studio recently, you must have an interesting story to share?
Ben: Well, Jeff recorded his guitar first because he went on tour just after his session with his other band, Tormenta. When Xavier and I recorded our guitars, we realized that Jeff recorded a part of a song with the wrong tonality! But finally, this error brings a lot to the whole ambiance of the track. (So we are keeping it.)
13) I can't stop imagining how incredible it would be if the French rugby player Sébastien Chabal did guest vocals on the debut album. Do you think his growls would be superior to Jeff's or Benjamin's?
Jeff: Chabal is a pussy...
Sebastien: A pussy with a beard...
Xavier: A beard bigger than Jeff's one...
Ben: I think he must do guest vocals on a Cannibal Corpse album
14) Will The Great Old Ones give Severed Heads Open Minds an early preview of whats to come on your debut?
It will be dark, heavy, hovering and oneiric, that's all we can say.
15) Fuck, that's vague, how about some early artwork previews?
We're working on artworks at the same time we answer theses questions! Jeff made great paintings for that and he need to finish some work. When we will have a release date for the album, we will show you some arts. (You can see his work here: Jeff Grimal Art)
Al-Namrood, meaning "The non-believer", is a black metal act from Saudi Arabia that stomps on your fucking skull. The patented cold & frostbitten harshness found in Scandinavian black metal is ever so not present. Instead, an atmosphere as searing hot and unforgiving as the lands in which these lads are from. Desert black metal.
I'm going to go ahead and include the outro.
Grab if you like: Melechesh, Blood of Kingu, Behemoth
