Here it is, the first WPC event of the year in which we all perish 2012! And once again we bring your new year in with a bang, with a very Sludgy and Doom flavour this time round!!!

HEADLINER TBC….

alongside them we have the Unstoppable ‘Iron Witch’ a band which are Liverpool’s answer to the mighty Eyehategod with their whiskey tinged sludge that will quite honestly smash your face in! Soon to be featured in the pages of Metal Hammer we really are fortunate to get these guys right at the beginning of what is likely to be a very successful year.

Iron Witch Bandcamp

And appearing with them, the much awaited ‘Sea Bastard’ featuring 3 members of the much missed Funeral Hag and Oli from the mighty Jovian. With the experience that these gentleman have, this truly is going to be some of the most soul crushing Doom ever experienced!

Sea Bastard Preview

and we still have space for more but as its early days you will just have to be patient boys and girls!!…..

So as i promised i can say that the next When Planets Collide night will take place at the glorious Windmill in Brixton on Saturday 14th January 2012, so come and see in the new year with style by coming and seeing some of the best bands of the upcoming year (I wish i could tell you who we have already but patience is needed!)

Until i can say something more on next years bill, why not familarise yourself with the amazing bands we have had on the journey so far:

Ishmael
Funeral Hag
Sons of the Sand
GURT
Palehorse
Rise of the Simans
Day of Locusts
Rings around Saturn
Dopefight
ENOS
Sedulus
RSJ
Blackstorm
The Bendal Interlude
Diesel King
Parole
Steak
XII Boar
Slabdragger
Dead Existence
Glass Wing Pilot

MORE INFORMATION TO COME VERY SOON…… and if you want your band to feature or have any suggestions email: whenplanetscollide@hotmail.co.uk

I woke up this morning with a real urge to listen to a band that sound like they belch gravel and cry vomit and it seems that on this fine day my prayers have been answered in form of Dead Existence’s LONG awaited new release ‘Born into the Planet’s Scars’. This band was one of the highlights of the recent First Birthday of ours and we were lucky enough to be given a preview of what was to come with this recording, but the added bonus of seeing these guys live is to see their front man Jake Harding throwing himself around like a horrifically tormented soul trying to expel every bit of anguish from himself before he explodes. A sight that if not seen already, should be at this weeks ‘Doom over London’ (See flyer below).

The recording itself contains the 2 epic numbers each coming in way over the 10 minute mark and unlike with the first album the lengths allow them to explore some really interesting territory with not a single second of this getting boring which I tend to find normally happens a lot when track lengths go over the 6-7 minute mark. The songs are jam packed with disgusting riffs covering every interesting influence in the doom genre along side a little bit of all of our beloved NOLA bands. I don’t enjoy listing what a band sound like but any one who loves this sort of thing will see that this band firmly wear their influences on their sleeve, and theirs is a dirty crusty unwashed smelly sleeve indeed!!

Stand out track: Gutless and Full of Shame

Listen to more: Dead Existence Bandcamp

The first ever live band that I saw were these guys all the way back on the Deftones ‘Around the Fur’ tour in 1998 which was my first experience of a horrifically insane mosh pit in which I lost both my shoes by the time the opening track ‘I’ve seen my fate’ was over. I also had chance to see Grady Avenell sing live with Will Haven before he left on the joint headline tour with Crowbar in 2006. I can quite happily say that these 2 concerts were easily up there in the greatest gigs of my life, so to say that I was looking forward to this album would be a massive understatement. It seems that I am not alone in my passion for this band as many bands today can name Will Haven as an inspiration and influence, so it comes with great pleasure to say that it’s an ABSOLUTE CORKER of an album!!

The first track leads you into a false sense of security as it builds up slowly and could easily be an intro track of a Mogwai album but that does not last long as when the opening lyrics of ‘When the walls close in’ kick in you know we are back to business and now with Grady back at the helm it seems his voice has only got better as is proven on this track and ‘Midas Secret’. Now with the addition of a new keyboardist there is a whole new sinister edge to the band which for me makes this album the best since ‘WHVN’. In particular ‘Lives Left To Wither’ and ‘Harvesting Our Burdens’ show off this new evil side to the band with the first of the 2 tracks starting with a choral song that chills to the spine and leads into one of the most crushing riffs I think I have ever heard on record. It is not long until we get to see them alongside our good friends RSJ and I really hope that we get a good selection of songs from this record as they far outshine anything the band have done for a great number of years!

Stand out Track: Lives left to Wither

These boys call themselves ‘Angry Bearded Man Metal’ and they could not be more right! I loved every minute of the short but sweet ‘Third’. It really does seem to cover every aspect of our beloved metal genres from the pounding riffs reminiscent of Lamb of God all the way through to some horrific Black Metal style blast beats, they could be accused of not having found a style they can settle in to but to me it just seems like a good mix of technical metal that seems to end way too early. On first listen the Clean Vocals were a bit of a sticking point but as a fan of full on screaming and shouting this was bound to happen, and with further listens I got over my silly snobbery and realised that it sat quite well in the songs and really brought to mind an early Keith Caputo… all in all a damn good effort.

Stand out Track: Jelly Bean Soup

Hear more at: F.S.I’s Website

So, how did it go? I hear you all cry!!

It went bloody brilliantly thanks…. And whats more some kind chap took the time to film a few of the songs over the night, one from each band in fact and it really does show the high standard of each and every person on that stage (apart from me of course!)

We all battled the incredible heat of the venue to pull out some amazing sets and hats off in particular to all of the drummers that despite being shoved in the corner managed to come out alive despite the desert like conditions.

Looking at getting dates settled for the next show in the coming new year with announcements on dates and headline band to come very soon but in the mean time, enjoy….

ENOS

SEDULUS

GURT

DEAD EXISTENCE

DOPEFIGHT

BLACKSTORM

This is the absolute genius video from previous WPC headliners RSJ featuring the band members (and Ryan from the brilliant Mitzi’s Revenge) performing the most worryingly entertaining work out routine i have ever seen in my life! One of the best Metal videos out there, this one has it all Beards, Leotards and most importantly horrifically catchy technical metal wizardry! Once i stopped laughing i realized quite how much i am looking forward to their LONG awaited new EP ‘Higgs Boson’ now hurry lads and lets hear the thing!

Before the EP is out though, they are playing with their biggest influence WILL HAVEN on 11/11/11 so come down and check it out as its gonna be a blinder!!

So GURT have been very kindly asked to help in the old supporting duties of the magnificent Dub Trio and whats more our good WPC friends Slabdragger are gonna be owning the same stage straight after us. WHAT A NIGHT I HEAR YOU CRY!

Well people, it is a mere £10 to see 3 titans lock horns in the greatest venue of its kind in London, our very own Brixton Windmill.

Tickets can be obtained here!

Reviewing this album kind of goes against what What Planets Collide is all about seeing as Mastodon are a well established band, but hearing this album for the first time got me so damn excited that i just cannot keep my excitement to myself!

It’s just a case of where to start with this one, it contains all the greatest elements of all 4 of the previous Mastodon albums except this one holds a major improvement that just makes it so special for me and that is the vocals. I remember not so many years ago that these 4 lads from Georgia were quite worried when they lost Eric Saner as a band member as they claimed they could sing themselves (or at least did not see themselves as singers) but blimey they have come along way. Not to say that they sounded bad on any of the other records but its the massive choruses of ‘All the heavy lifting’, ‘the Hunter’ and ‘Bedazzled Fingernails’ that are the stand out songs for me vocally on this release and the improvement is so gladly welcomed!! If you are after your flat out rifftastic songs then ‘Blasteroids’ and ‘Spectrelight’ are the choices for you and with the latter containing a cameo from Scott Kelly of Neurosis, it really does add that extra bit a venom that you need after hearing some of the more relaxed and reflected songs like ‘the Creature Lives’ and just to shock their fan base even more there is a melancholic nod to Dave Gilmore in the form of a wonderfully proggy guitar solo during the epic finale that is ‘The Sparrow’.

All together this really cannot be faulted and i can imagine this record remaining on repeat in my life for many months to come … JUST GET YOUR ASSES TO ENGLAND AGAIN AND TOUR THIS FAST AS PERSONALLY I CANNOT WAIT TO HEAR THESE NEW ADDITIONS TO THE SET…. ALL HAIL MASTODON!!

Stand out Track: Bedazzled Fingernails

Hear More at: Mastodon Youtube Channel

Let me start by saying that this is a good mix of several styles of our beloved genres some of which i am not best keen on. The songwriting is strong on this record with some great pounding riffs, but for the slower more ‘Doom’ songs reminiscent of bands like St Vitus it just does not work for me, this purely a personal thing as i want my music faster and nastier. Having said that though it is tracks like ‘I am Meglodon’ and ‘Uncanny Valley’ that this band really does shine. The Orange goblin inspired stoner stomp of these 2 tracks really are ones to be proud of and something i am really looking forward to seeing live. Certainly ones i urge you lot to give a go but for me i think they need to concentrate on increasing their pace slightly, and if like me you want an opportunity to catch these guys in the flesh then you don’t have long too wait as they are playing on October 15th with WPC favorites ‘The Day of the Locust’ at the Boston Music Rooms in Tufnell park.

Stand out track: Uncannny Valley

Hear more at: Subsilence’s Bandcamp