Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Bandcamp Picks: OHHMS, Surrogate Prey/Death After Birth, Old Witch/Keeper, Sleep's Holy Mountain: The CVLT Nation Sessions




OHHMS aren't a band for short attention spans; their entire discography at this point is only four songs and has a running time of over an hour. Of the two tracks that make up their second release Cold, "The Anchor" walks fastidiously in Sleep's shoes for nearly 20 minutes, while "Dawn of the Swarm" suggests extended plays of Isis' Oceanic. Surprisingly engaging considering the length. [£3.99]




Burning Water is the title of the long awaited (and long baited) split EP between DoC friends Death After Birth and Surrogate Prey, finally out and on Bandcamp. Surrogate Prey play a nasty form of sludge in the vein of Eyehategod and Grief; Death After Birth, one of the longest running metal bands from the region, have a more traditional doom approach, but are no less heavy. These six songs represent one of the best releases to come out of South East Asia. Get it now. [$6]



A couple weeks back I mentioned I was looking forward to the split between Old Witch and Keeper. Well it's here, and it's bleak as fuck. Old Witch have honed in on their oppressive style, mixing ultra raw doom/drone with icy swathes of keyboards to keep things both heavy and atmospheric. That's a lot for Keeper to follow, but the Californian band do with their own filthy Khanate-esque doom. A six part invitation to self-harm. The split is available as a "name your price" download.




Before they became the phenomenon they are now, Sleep were one of a number of bands paying tribute to Black Sabbath on Earache's Masters of Misery comp; two decades later, they're the focus of their own tribute album, courtesy of CVLT Nation. As is usually the case with tributes, the quality oscillates from band to band, but of particular note are Bog Oak's mesmerizing version of "Holy Mountain", and Sea of Bones' stellar deconstruction of "Dragonaut". Who knows, one of the bands here may make it big and gets a tribute of their own some day. Check back in 20 years. [FREE!]