In case you didn’t know, I just got back from the West Coast a couple days ago. Saw Sleep in concert at the Roseland Theater in Portland, then caught the Seattle Seahawks’ season opener at Qwest Field. These were the best two days in recent memory.

A self-proclaimed “stoner metal” band from San Jose California, the quartet Zed has some of the elements you would expect: fuzz pedals, slow-rolling breakdowns, heavy bottom-end. They also have a crisp, commercial sheen that you could file under modern rock.

Since hearing about its upcoming release, I’ve wondered what kind of compilation Astbury and a band whose output has been as diverse as Boris’ has been would produce. Well, now I have an answer: such an effort is short and sweet, which is a problem when only half of it is really good.

The songs, like the lineup of the band itself, seem a tad underdeveloped, like a reasonably well-produced demo tape made to audition a bassist and/or singer. I doubt that stoner/doom minded musicians are in great abundance in Belgium, but the band would benefit from both in my belief

“We’ve always known that as an entire band—both live and everything on our albums—we’re asking listeners to have a very open mind, more open than a lot of people are capable of. Depending on what song somebody hears, we could fit so many different categories. So if somebody sees we’re “black metal” and then listens to “Japanese and Lovely,” they’ll think we’re “false metal,” or that the person who called us black is an idiot. Vice versa if somebody’s told we’re indie rock and then, God help them, comes to our show, screaming for the door.”

Part two of Jay H. Gorania’s interview with Amber Valentine of JUCIFER.

Lucky number seven! The seventh installment of the Hellbound Handshake Clip Of The Week is a doozy! Pentagram playing “Forever My Queen” at Maryland Deathfest VIII

Humo del Cairo (Egyptian Smoke!?) is a primarily instro trio from Argentina, with occasional vocals provided in Spanish. You can hear shades of Kyuss (check out “Panorama”), The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Nimbo” and the opening of “Fuego de San Antonio”), their Argentinian countrymen in Los Natas—or even Sergio Ch’s side-project Ararat (the harmonica and chanting of “Errantes” wouldn’t sound outta place on Musica
de la Resistencia…).

“Having seen the Melvins in previous three-piece variants over the years, this was my very-excited first time seeing this four-on-the-floor version that includes the Big Business guys, even though the band’s been touring in this incarnation since 2006. First, the stage set-up is key: Looking like one monstrous kit, the twin drumsets are dead center of the stage mirroring each other as centerpiece of the show. Yes, everybody is situated right up front and gets to act as frontman-in-his-own-right in Melvins Mark, what is it, now, Eight?”

Kyle Harcott reviews the July 5th show Vancouver performance by the Melvins and Totimoshi.