HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

Ten years after their breakup, Sleep, one of the most influential and well-loved stoner/doom bands on the planet, are reuniting for two UK reunion shows (May 9th and May 10th). They'll be playing Somerset, UK's All Tomorrow's Party Festival, at which they'll be playing their immortal classic Holy Mountain in its entirety, in addition to several other songs (including selections from Dopesmoker, a.k.a. the best album of all time). For only 150-160 pounds sterling (roughly $300), you'll have a chance to see one of the most amazingly awesome heeeeeavy bands ever hit the stage and hopefully prove that they've still got it. Judging by what said Sleep members have done with the severely excellent OM and High on Fire, I think it's safe to assume that fuck yeah, they do!
If my paperwork goes through and I do end up studying abroad this spring, you bet yer ass I'll be there!

If anybody actually cares, other bands playing the festival will include Devo, Spiritualized, Grails (who are actually pretty good weird heavy stuff, on Neurot), The Breeders, Teenage Fanclub, Bon Iver, Throwing Muses, and Holy Fuck.

I have NO idea why the organizers of this fest thought that Sleep would make sense as an addition to this show, but god bless 'em for coaxing those doomhaulers off their dopethrones and onto the stage one more time.

To all our international readers, I'd first like to apologize for the way my country has behaved the last 8 years and let you know this post doesn't pertain to you. To all our U.S. readers who are 18 or over, don't be a dick and forget to register to vote. Whether you vote for Obama or McCain doesn't matter (although if you vote for McCain you are most likely an idiot or an asshole….I said it). Point is this a really important election and to quote Rage Against the Machine, we need to "take the power back". So, don't be a douche, put down the bong, take a few seconds and go to declareyourself.com. DO IT or the hockey mom gets into office.

Holy fuck! Somebody had the brilliant idea to get a bunch of stonery doomy sludge bands to cover a bunch of PINK FLOYD songs, arguably the greatest stoner band ever. The project is being called Like Black Holes in the Sky: The Tribute to Syd Barrett, and features covers by JESU, INTRONAUT, KYLESA, DREDG, UNEARTHLY TRANCE, YAKUZA and more.

Really, its a who's who of awesome bands covering (in this humble blogger's opinion) the awesomest band of all time. The fine people at Dwell Records have posted a player streaming this amazing CD in its entirety. Listen to this compilation in all of its awesomeness, after the jump… (more…)

As previously reported, sludge-encrusted doom legends Grief have reformed and will be hitting the road for a European tour, as well as a short East Coast jaunt with New Hampshire hardcore ragers Trap them. A few more dates of this utterly unmissable tour have surfaced, including a spot on the newly-instated second stage at Maryland Death Fest. I'M SO EXCITED, especially since it's looking like the the date in my home base (Philadelphia) will also feature the ravenous Black Cobra, and two of the ugliest bands to ever crawl out from under the City of Brotherly Love's whitewashed skies – Jail. and Serpent Throne. If you haven't heard GRIEF yet, check out an MP3 below…

GRIEF/TRAP THEM tour dates:

October 24 – Baltimore, MD @ The Nowarehouse
October 25 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Khyber
October 31 – Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
May 22-24 – Baltimore, MD @ Maryland Deathfest VII

GRIEF - World of Hurt [5:02m]

 

Play Now

Instead of posting a half dozen bite-size stories about the latest news from the doom/sludge underground, I decided to compile it all into one big nasty ball o'resin and load y'all up with enough album updates, tour dates, and general sludgefuckery to BLOW. YOUR. FUCKING. MINDS. Load up the bong, and read on…

Cult sludge act GRIEF have reunited and are currently plotting a European tour with the totally respectable crusty metallic hardcore (NOT metalcore) band TRAP THEM. They've also announced two East Coast shows, with plans for an equally-short West Coast run shortly thereafter.

Oct 24 2008 – BALTIMORE, Maryland @ THE NOWAREHOUSE
Oct 25 2008 – PHILADELPHIA, PA @ THE KHYBER PASS w/ BLACK COBRA

The best band in the world, a.k.a. EYEHATEGOD, played a 20th anniversary show with CROWBAR in New Orleans this past weekend. The date was made even more special as it fell on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the city, and came just as the threat of Hurricane Gustav loomed over the still-healing city. I made the pilgrimage down there to see the show, and goddamned if it wasn't one of the best I've ever seen. EYEHATEGOD played three new songs and announced that they are currently writing their next album. CROWBAR are also knee-deep in new tunes; their next record is expected to drop in 2009, with Kirk himself proclaiming that not only did they plan to tour, they "want to play every country that's got electricity!"

More doom news after the jump… (more…)

Isis are currently writing for a new, still-untitled album, the follow-up to 2006's triumphant In The Absence Of Truth.

The band says, "We've been working hard on the new record. All five of us sweating away in a small windowless room in downtown Los Angeles. We're making good progress and will have more (and more exciting) news about that to report soon! There's new ISIS merch up in the webstore. We're excited to be heading to Chicago this weekend for a few shows! It should be a killer time!

In other Isis news, Zozobra (featuring Aaron Harris & Caleb Scofield of Cave In/Old Man Gloom) released their latest record, entitled Bird of Prey, on August 5th (available now from Hydrahead Records). In addition to playing drums on Bird of Prey, Harris also recorded and mixed the album himself. Their last record, Harmonic Tremors, was about as heavy as a pair of colliding tectonic plates, so I personally can’t wait to hear what they’ve come up with this time around.

Dudes with beards and Neurosis shirts are psyched.

On a side note, did you know that ISIS have action figures (no, seriously)? Inspired by concepts from their last album In The Absence Of Truth, the nifty-looking little guys are available at their webstore for ten bucks a pop. I think they're sold out right now; I'm unsure how taken aback I should be about that.

There is no need to even provide a description for this. Just watch the above video for Mike Edison's ChroniCaster.

The Houston Chronicle reports about a few Macgyver smokers, who swapped out household smoking utensils, for something a bit more br00tal:

Two men and a juvenile are accused of digging up a corpse, decapitating the body and using the head to smoke marijuana, according to court documents.Matthew Gonzalez and Kevin Jones have been charged with the misdemeanor offense of abuse of a corpse, said Scott Durfee, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office.

According to documents filed in the case, Gonzalez, Jones and an unnamed juvenile on March 15 went to an Humble cemetery, dug up a man's grave, left with the head and turned it into a "bong."

Heavy, man!

Woaaah, man. Fuckin' NEUROSIS man! Check out these two live clips that VBS.tv posted, man! Yea man…