Drone Records

LOON - same

Format: CD

Label & Cat.Number: Beta-lactam Ring Records mt258

Release Year: 2011

Note: neo stoner-psychedelism from the U.S., slow & heavy & with female vocals, like a mixture of "BLACK SABBATH & country chanteuse NEKO CASE" (Aquarius Records); lim. 500

Price (incl. 19% VAT): €13.00

More Info

"Loon's tunes cast pterodactyl shadows. The guttural guitars travel at the speed of Swans, languidly pounding out metal blasts that would make Sir Lord Baltimore scared. Their juxtaposition of ballsy femme vocals and black metal rasp generates an intense texture dynamic within the syrupy, trudging riffs. Loon is a quaking heaviness, like Hannibal crossing the Alps on Marshall stacks, though the loud is tempered with interesting production and unique arrangements. Loon's sonic crush soars with the loftiest flocks."I have no idea how this record hasn’t gotten more praise, it just might be the most underrated metal album of the past year. I think a lot of that is simply because nobody knows it exists, it’s self-released, and there’s no website to order from. Thankfully, they sent it to us to share with all of you. This Providence, RI three-piece features members of Megasus, Moonshine, Wake Up On Fire, etc. They play the best possible brand of slow, driving doom metal with the occasional passage of occult folk thrown in."

LOON was conceived of on the shores of Grout Pond in the Green Mountain National Forest by Mis Zill (vocals/guitars, former member of Moonshine, Wake up on Fire) and Anne Marie Ticaric (drums/vocals) in October of 2007. They were soon after joined by bassist Paul Lyons (Megasus) and began to write heavy, melodic songs in a bitterly cold warehouse in Providence RI. These songs are collected on the self titled debut LP released in December 2010. LOON has toured through much of the east coast and across the midwest, and plans to record and tour more in 2011." [label info]

www.blrrecords.com

"Witchy doomy heaviness from Rhode Island, home of ultra avant doom heavies The Body, electro rockers Six Finger Satellite, spastic hyper noiserock duo Lightning Bolt, and hardcore legends Dropdead, among others, but female fronted doom rockers Loon have way more in common with the current crop of heavies like Jex Thoth, The Devil's Blood, Sub Rosa, Blood Ceremony, Cauchemar, Christian Mistress and Purple Rhinestone Eagle, and fans of any of those bands will definitely dig Loon's stonery psychedelic grooves, and pop flecked Sabbathy doominess, but Loon definitely have their own take on that sounds, beyond the doom aspect, which is really pretty minimal, sure it IS doomy, but it's way more groovy, there's also a serious slowcore vibe going on, a downer pop woven into the group's more metallic heaviness, which ends up reminding us of a way heavier more traditionally metal True Widow, which is totally NOT a bad thing. And then there's the vocals, which are amazing, slipping from demonic screech, to sweet melodious croon, powerful and intense, and often reminding us of country chanteuse Neko Case surprisingly enough. So if you can imagine Neko Case singing for a Sabbathy doomy downer pop stoner metal combo, well then, you might have an idea of what Loon has going on. And while the vocals might be the best we of the bunch, in terms of actually singing, the songs are pretty fantastic too, spacey and psychedelic, groovy and heavy, a little bit proggy, super hooky, with just enough pop, the guitar sound buzzy and crunchy, the drums powerful, the whole sound hooky and heavy, doomy and sort of dreamy at the same time. After a gorgeous hazy bit of psychedelic acoustic guitar, the record finishes with the nearly 10 minute "Grackel" which is the perfect Loon track, mixing all the various elements, the Neko Case like vocals (sounding surprisingly twangy here!), the shrieked demonic howls, the groovy Sabbathy riffage, the super melodic poppiness, the dirgey slowcore, all culminating in a woozy washed out feedback drenched spacey psychedelic outro, that could have (and probably SHOULD have) gone on for ANOTHER 10 minutes. Definitely a new favorite. Anyone into ANY of the above mentioned bands should for sure check this out." [Aquarius Records]

www.blrrecords.com