This week issue 201 of Classic Rock was given a final polish before being hurried off to the printers. We celebrated by eating cake, and by putting together a playlist featuring the music that kept us going over those final, desperate hours.
Electric Wizard — I Am Nothing
Pass the ‘shrooms. Electric Wizard’s new “acid” video accompanies their delightfully doom-laden I Am Nothing. The undercurrent of evil accompanying this tune is so strong we’ve had to change our pants several times today alone.
Karma To Burn - 55
Remarkably, this fine bunch of Appalachian instrumentalists have been around since 1993, but they sound just as ferocious in 2014 as they ever did. The new album, out in August, is entitled Arch Stanton.
Empress AD - Invisible Conductor
With a record collection that embraces Opeth, Goira and Pink Floyd - they do a cracking cover of Breathe - Roadrunner’s young Brit newbies growl their way through a metallic face-melter that also has pools of sweet melody and a nice, creepy art movie vid.
Casualties Of Cool - Flight
Here’s the new video from Devin Townsend’s latest project, a country rock sci-fi concept with sultry frontlady Ché Aimee Dorval. “It’s like haunted Johnny Cash songs” they say. So mellow, so spacey, so pretty - so Devin 2014.
Mater Thalium — Exiled Witness
A slow-burner, stay with it. These doomy Norwegians may be in thrall to Candlemass, Crimson and Sabbath but there’s a modern prog sensibility to their retro eulogising. Featuring two members of the wonderfully titled Procosmian Fannyfiddlers in the line-up, they clearly have a GSOH too.
Old 97’s — Let’s Get Drunk And Get It On
“Top song, top video, and very much worth watching to the end”, says Classic Rock’s reviews editor Ian “Ian” Fortnam. So we did, and were similarly surprised by the peculiar end to this lively promo. Great chorus.
Ming City Rockers — I Wanna Get Out Of Here But I Can’t Take You Anywhere
IWGOOHBICTYA was uploaded to the interwebs last November, but we weren’t paying attention. This week it jumped up and bit us on our sweaty rock critic asses. They don’t know many chords, but they’re pretty good at the ones they do know.
Voltage — I Got You Rockin’
We were wondering if I Got You Rockin’ was an answer song to The Stones’ You Got Me Rockin’, because that would be nice and circular. Voltage are from Holland and sound so much like Bon Scott-era AC/DC that we suspect they’re actually some kind of existentialist art prank… but it’s still a fine bit of hip-thrusting boogie.
