V/A - WARFARING STRANGERS Darkscorch Canticles 2LP proto-metal/doom/ prog Medusa

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VARIOUS ARTISTS Warfaring Strangers: Darkscorch Canticles 2 x LP

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(Numero Group)
*** This is a new and unplayed item, direct from the CRUCIAL BLAST shop. ***

DESCRIPTION FROM CRUCIAL BLAST:
     Back in stock!
      If you dug that reissue of Medusa's lost 70's-era album of psychedelic proto-doom First Step Beyond that Numero put out last year, then you're definitely going to be interested in checking out the label's latest excursion into unearthing choice chunks of ultra-obscure heaviness from the primordial past of the American metal/doom underground. Part of the label's Wayfaring Strangers compilation series, Darkscorch Canticles is an exquisitely curated selection of extremely rare, often highly collectible 45's that were released throughout the 1970s on tiny regional labels and private pressings. Featuring band's with such alluring names as Triton Warrior and Stoned Mace, the compilation chronicles a now largely forgotten underworld of bands who sprung up across the American landscape in the wake of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, playing raw, ragtag rock that often existed at the intersection of protozoan doom, hard-edged occult-obsessed psychedelia, and brawny garage-prog. It's an amazing comp, lovingly assembled with a high attention to detail, and it offers a window into an obscure past that most fans of American doom/prog/metal probably know very little about.
        The sixteen tracks collected on Warfaring Strangers were carefully selected from some of the rarest and most obscure indie singles released during that era, featuring the bands Wrath, Triton Warrior, Arrogance, Stoned Mace, Wizard, Sonaura, Hellstorm, Space Rock, Stone Axe, Air, Stonehenge, Dark Star, Junction, Inside, and two similarly named bands from Chicago, the aforementioned Medusa, and the slightly lesser known Gorgon Medusa. The variety of sounds is pretty amazing, too. The extensive liner notes that accompany this compilation draw a common thread through the entire lineup of bands: all of 'em were drunk on the amplified crunch of those early Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin records as well as the zeitgeist of 70's pop occultism, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, and pulp fantasy mags, but what makes this such a revelatory collection is when you hear the passion and creativity on display on each of these short blasts of ratty, heavy rock enshrouded in dense clouds of pungent pot smoke and cheap incense. The music ranges from eerie Satanic prog rock to shambolic proto-doom mysticism, necromantic garage psych to fuzz-encrusted proto-punk anthems, apocalyptic doom-blues and delirious sub-Sabbathian crunch, the music definitely of it's era (early to mid 70s for the most part), but most of this stuff is imbued in darker tones than your typical classic hard rock, closer to the heavier sounds of bands like Sabbath, Warpig, Captain Beyond, Leaf Hound, Atomic Rooster, Bang and Sir Lord Baltimore.
        All of this stuff is a blast that anyone into the whole proto-metal underground will no doubt flip out over, but there's a number of tracks that particularly stood out: the clattery psychedelia of Air's "Twelve O’Clock Satania" that blossoms into entrancing darkness, kicking off the compilation with a strange, off-kilter mix of droning organs and ramshackle drumming, dense smoke rings of satanic delirium drifting off the band's otherworldly groove; the furious psychedelic proto-metal of Wrath's "Warlord" that features some killer somnambulant female vocals intoning creepy Satanic lyrics; the demented bludgeoning blooze-blast of Triton Warrior's awesome "Sealed In A Grave"; Stone Axe's doom-laden "Slave Of Fear" that kicks out some amazing off-kilter blues-damaged heaviness and delivers one of the heaviest songs on the whole collection; the scorching, soulful Hammond-laced darkness of Arrogance's "Black Death"; Inside's fried-out garage crunch that has a weird distorted organ warbling incessantly behind the song's Steppenwolf-influenced hook. Cosmic Chicago prog-stompers Medusa are represented here too, with the doom-laden, jazzy prog of "Black Wizard" off of their amazing First Step Beyond reissue, and they're followed by another similarly named Chicago band Gorgon Medusa, who counter with "Sweet Child", delivering their own spacey take on Sabbathian crunch by adding on a heavy dose of astral electronics, sending their rumbling space blooze into the lower atmosphere.
        It's an amazing collection that Numero assembled, a must-hear for anyone obsessed with the 70's era American proto-metal underground. And the visual presentation is just as terrific, with both the CD and the LP versions packaged in deluxe packaging that features all of the band's logos on the cover printed with metallic foil stamping, the CD packaged in a slipcase, the LP in a gorgeous case-wrapped gatefold. The artwork that was commissioned for this adorns the compilation in wonderfully crude fantasy art and Dungeons And Dragons-style scribblings on graph paper, along with scans of the original 45 record labels, and the liner notes are extensive to say the least, the booklet filled with comprehensive histories of the bands. Highly recommended   © CRUCIAL BLAST
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