#ripple music

[lesdeuxmuses]

Doublestone - Devil's Own/Djaevlens Egn (Ripple Music, 2017)

[doomedandstoned]

FOSTERMOTHER Return with 3rd Full Length ‘Echo Manor’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

As of today, there are 30 days remaining until Autumn, and you can feel a certain wistfulness that mirrors the changing moods of the season in new album, 'Echo Manor' (2024) by FOSTERMOTHER. Though it was undoubtedly composed and recorded over a more extended period of time by the Houston trio, it fits the mood of right now. This is melancholy music for melancholy times. We find ourselves in this strange, mad world and it's comforting to find a sound like this that literally echoes our despair.

That's not to say this is angsty or angry music, just that it expresses a certain kind of longing for something better, a nagging emptiness, with elements of stoic acceptance in the singing. There's a haunting surrealness to a song like "In The Garden of Lies," for example. It's as atmospheric as walking into an abandoned building that has been overtaken by nature once again. In fact, the album begins with a reference to ghosts in "Wraith." Lyrics are fittingly vague, yet touch on something authentically felt: "Everyone is nothing, lonelier than we thought."

Keyboards have always added something special to the Fostermother sound, doubling down on the emotive punch of their sound, as on "Empty One." Both vocalist/guitarist Travis Weatherred and bassist/guitarist Stephen Griffin are credited with keyboards on this album, so I imagine a lot of thought was given to creating these misty, transient sonic environments.

The sweet spot of the album for me is right at "All We Know," one of my favorite tracks of the album for its those poignant bittersweet guitar harmonies. It's pure doom on the order of those moving riffs in Trouble's "The Tempter," but disguised in the vein of heavy rock. Deep and engaging, the vibe pierces right through you and tugs on those emotional heartstrings.

It keeps getting better too, with the infectious rhythmic groove of title track "Echo Manor" which feels like a dreamstate in which we're are sedately growing apart from ourselves. "This ghostly intrusion, a haunted illusion."

"Rituals Unknown" continues the lyrical emphasis on shadows and the immaterial realm. "I feel reversed," Travis sings. "I am reversed." The twin guitar harmonies are once again quite compelling. In the days following the pandemic, we have awakened to new realities about being human and in many ways perhaps we also feel like a ghost tossed about in the ether, with nothing really real to anchor ourselves to. Fostermother seem to suggest that everything is changing, constantly changing.

"King To A Dead Tree" is like a magic blend of dark rock, gothic rock, and doom metal, and features a guitar solo from fellow Houston musician Rusty Miller of High Desert Queen.

"Carry Me" is another standout, not for anything bombastic, but for its sense of melancholy. Fostermother has a knack for finding those moments to elevate to the forefront of our consciousness, with effective writing -- sometimes just the way one word is sung (here the song builds up to a release in the chorus "nowhere to go, feeling blue.").

"Watchers" brings us back to the grungy doom glory of vintage Fostermother with a brooding, stormy feel and some explosive guitar work. Some of the harmonies produced by the guitar and bass are so deeply moving that you can feel the psychic pain so keenly, as in "Lighthouse."

Fostermother's Echo Manor is an enigma in contemporary heavy music and for that reason alone it deserves hearing. Eerie, nostalgic, and deeply felt, with appealing vocal moments and warm, blanketing harmonies that really stay you. It comes out on Ripple Music on Friday, August 23rd on vinyl, compact disc, and digital formats (get it here). Stick it on a playlist with Pallbearer, Foot, Young Hunter, and Pinky Floyd.

Give ear...

Ripple Music · Fostermother - Echo Manor

SOME BUZZ

Fostermother are back! Long acclaimed by international critics for their catchy take on doom metal, the Texan trio takes a substantial turn in their career by revealing a more multi-faceted, atmosphere-driven facet of their music on "Echo Manor."

The band made an impression within the stoner and doom scene with their massive-sounding 2020 self-titled debut, "hitting both soft and hard in all the right places, leaving oddly-comforting destruction in its wake" according to Everything Is Noise. Signed to Ripple Music in 2021, the pair released their sophomore album "The Ocean" which reached #20 on the Doom Charts Top 100 albums of 2022.

Echo Manor by Fostermother

With drummer Jason Motamedi officially rounding out the lineup, Fostermother recorded their third album "Echo Manor", pushing their sound into heavy psych territory with hints of post-rock and progressive rock. It was produced, mixed and mastered by Travis Weatherred, with artwork by Kimberly Weatherred.

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[hatfejusarkany]

JIRM - The Tunnel, The Well, Holy Bedlam // Ripple Music, 2022

https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-tunnel-the-well-holy-bedlam

for the attention of: @whitenoisegirl @brgzmpff 

[falkonryderz]

Fire Down Below - "Airwolf" (Visualizer Video) | Ripple Music - 2023

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Duskwood - The Last Voyage (Ripple Music)

The Space Cowboy tale may be over but The Last Voyage is an album that you will be listening to again and again as the year goes on. It’s that damn good. It’s an album of the year contender.

Duskwood, the UK-based desert/stoner rock band are back with part 3 of their Nomads Saga. Called ‘The Last Voyage’ and following on from Part 1 – The Long Dark, released on 20/04/2019 & Part 2 – The Lost Tales released on 28/02/2020, it will be released on May 12th, 2023 via Ripple Music. The album continues the story of a Space Cowboy who travels alone through space and time, observing and…

[angeladdict]

TURNED TO STONE Chapter III: Wizzerd vs. Merlin

by Ripple Music

1.Wizzerd - We Are 18:54 2.Merlin - Merlin's Bizarre Adventure 21:51 3.Wizzerd - We Are (Single Edit) 04:14 4.Merlin - Merlin's Bizarre Adventure (Stoner Doom Edit) 05:13

[maplebitts]

Thinking about thunder bringer

[ltwilliammowett]

Stern of HMS Victory

Source

[lesdeuxmuses]

Foghound - Awaken To Destroy (Ripple Music, 2018)

[scatterbrainedart]

Some Aphrodite designs

[doomedandstoned]

TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH Unleash Magnum Opus, ‘Apotheosis’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

We introduced you to TEMPLE OF THE FUZZ WITCH in our compilation Doomed & Stoned in Detroit and the band subsequently played Ohio Doomed & Stoned Festival in 2019.

Now past the pandemic years, the band's sound has matured and evolved to encompass frightening black metal textures, in addition to the stalwart doom sound they forged in the beginning. On their third LP 'Apotheosis' (2024), Temple of the Fuzz Witch execution is nothing short of tight, demonstrating an uncanny penchant for conjuring apocalyptic atmospheres. Every member of the team is on point and collaborate to create something dark and powerful.

While not pitched as a concept album, savvy listeners will pick up on the subtext of fallen angels, drawing from Biblical, Zoroastrian, mystical, and traditional lore to create a singular work of terror that could well be a sequel to Dante's Inferno.

Apotheosis is the process of becoming deity (an idea long held by Egyptian, Greek, Buddhist and Christian beliefs), so perhaps this album concerns the rise of those angels who fell like lightning to our planet after a failed coup against The Almighty in heaven. Now is their time to rise again and terrorize mankind, as foretold in St. John's Revelation, The Books of Enoch, Kabbalah, and Milton's Paradise Lost.

Joe Peet's blistering bass welcomes us to "A Call To Prey," with bravura drumming from Taylor Christian and Noah Bruner's grungy guitars following not far behind. We prey upon your fear sings frontman Noah with windswept ire. One could imagine hearing this voice echo in the dead of night over moonlit hills and forests.

"Wight" is a foreboding doomer with elements of black metal. Noah teeters between jaded vocals with menacing growls. Wight is a reference to a ghostly creature, and there's sinister, foggy element to the song, as evil spirits vow:

We’ll break you Damned You’ll never be free We’ll break you For all eternity

"Nephilim" made me recall how damningly heavy Temple of the Fuzz Witch was at Ohio Doomed and Stoned Fest. You can get a sense of it with a pair of good speakers, but seeing them live punches even harder. Vocals vary in character between forlorn cries, as depressed hushes declare, "You will see, I will feed." Fiery yells and guttural rumbling join ravaging drumwork and hailing tremeloes as the song progresses.

"Bow Down" lives in familiar stoner-doom territory, with southern sludge riffing suggesting a revelrous lot dedicated to the worship of their master. Here the singing here is clear, clean, and resonant, intersected by harsh vocals that shout defiantly: Bow down and worship the sky, we pass beyond the glowing light.

"Sanguine" has become one of my favorite words, lately, though I've struggled for an appropriate reason to include it in my writing. It basically means making the best of a bad situation, remaining confident despite the odds, optimistic even when faced with nihilistic uncertainty. Lyrics allude to "Yahweh's condemned," "diabolic souls" who were "cast into swine" by God's Son, and now look to overtake Earth when Satan is loosed from the Bottomless Pit. Bittersweet riffs and damning low end remind me of Purple Hill Witch, and there are some badass chord progressions here. This one has been lingering in my head for days.

"Cursed" gives us little clue as to who the Cursed are, other than they have "sought the watchers in the blacks" and that their "moment has now passed" and now "there's no return." The Watchers are most likely fallen angels from the Book of Enoch, the Nephilim referenced in the book of Genesis. Maybe the cursed ones were acolytes of the Nephilim, but we're given only scraps, hints, fragments to piece together the mystery.

"Raze" opens with muted drums and a swarm of distorted guitar noise that almost seems like a portent of the great horde, here to "end all humans." It takes the perspective of the Fallen, who are still loyal to Lucifer. I have carried his black mark, all the way from the very start.

Strumming arpeggios suggest the clock is ticking in "Apostate," one of my favorite tracks of the record for its sheer dread. Downtuned, dissonant guitar chords make the ire of Noah's roaring vocals all the more convincing, as four lines are repeated thrice:

Await the hallows Swallow the earth The apostates Filled with dread and woe

"Ashes" brings the album to a head with another highlight of the record, a slow headbanger if there ever was one. Vocals are terrifying, referencing "vows of the damned" and Ahriman the evil spirit of early Iranian religions -- the very embodiment of destruction.

It's good to see Ripple Music continue to expand its portfolio into doom territory. Look for Apotheosis by Temple of the Fuzz Witch, dropping this Friday, April 5th (get it here).. Stick it on a playlist with Electric Wizard, Saturnalia Temple, Cough, Coffins, and Moon Coven.

Give ear...

LISTEN: Temple of the Fuzz Witch - Apotheosis

SOME BUZZ

With riffs and lyrics as bleak and crushing as a Michigan winter, blackened doom outfit Temple of the Fuzz Witch brings a unique take on the doom genre, their unwaveringly nightmarish sonic processions being raised to another level with frontman Noah Bruner's jaw-dropping balance of crypt-worthy growls and astoundingly grunge-styled clean vocals. Never the darkness has felt so magnificent and compelling, and their aptly-titled third album "Apotheosis" has everything to put the mighty trio on every black and doom metal fan's radar for years to come.

Launched in 2017 with a 3-track EP, the Detroit three-piece has successively released two albums: "Temple of the Fuzz Witch" (2019) and "Red Tide" (2020). Temple of the Fuzz Witch is now set to unleash the beauty of its unique occult-driven nihilism with "Apotheosis". The album was recorded and mixed by Pete Grossman at Bricktop Recording, and mastered by Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studio. Its artwork was created by Sarah Fazriah and Zoro (Mysteriousfour).

Apotheosis by Temple of the Fuzz Witch

About the album, the band says: “The lyrics and concept as an album are more overt and less cryptic than the previous Temple releases. Everything is bigger, heavier, and darker. Rather than making just another doom record, we wanted to do something that stepped outside of the box a little bit. Established fans will still find catchy riffs that are staples of doom but will be surprised with some new twists on the genre with the introduction of blackened vocals and some more up-tempo tracks.

Lyrically the album is deeply rooted in the esoteric and spiritual. We came at the album with a very introspective mindset, and each of us was able to add a little bit of our own soul to it. I think when people hear the lyrics and music together they'll find something fresh, but dark, to connect with.”

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[botanicallyinclinednerd]

have you ever thought about how out of all the gods/powerful people Odysseus has met throughout epic, Circe is the only one who respected his no

This genuinely just stopped me in my tracks and caused me to stop breathing for about 5 seconds. No, Fluffy, I have not thought of this. What the fuck. Circe is also the only powerful being he met that encouraged the good in Odysseus

[average-gay-walrus]

List of Beetlejuice things I own because I've just realized how insane(autistic) it is

-Beetlebear (Beetlejuice Build-A-Bear)

-Sandworm plush

-Beetlejuice cartoon T-shirt

-Beetlejuice movie T-shirt

-Beetlejuice musical hoodie

-Sandworm sweatshirt

-Beetlejuice loungefly backpack

-Beetlejuice Funko pop

-Beetlejuice Funko pop keychain

-Adam/Barbara/Handbook for the Recently Deceased spirt Halloween keychain (which is on the Beetlejuice loungefly backpack)

-Beetlejuice piggy bank (not a big but idk what else to call it)

-Beetlejuice musical bag

-Five Beetlejuice musical playbills

-Beetlejuice Christmas ornament

-Beetlejuice Halloween costume (which I still wear as normal clothes)

-Handmade Beetlejuice bracelet (that I'm matching with my mom with >:33)

-Beetlejuice gloves

-Beetlejuice beanie

-"Never Trust The Living" pin

-Beetlejuice patch

-Beetlejuice tin of candy (blue raspberry flavored >:3)

[falkonryderz]

Összefogás Tom Daviesért (Nebula)