Tag: Austin doom metal

The Well release “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbath.”

Austin trio The Well share a new “live in quarantine” video for “Sabbah” via Metal Injection from their powerful third album Death and Consolation. Watch and share “Sabbah” HERE. (Direct  YouTube.)

The next night, on a small outdoor set, each band member filmed their respective video parts solo, joined only by TV’s Daniel as masked director and videographer. The scenes were then inter-woven together into a mesmerizing smokey psychedelic dreamscape using 3 cameras and projector lights to reconstruct the group experience. All said and done, this live version of “Sabbah” was recorded, mixed, shot and edited in a three day quarantine time turnaround, resulting in a unique and experimental piece of work that encapsulates the energy of The Well’s live performance, despite being surrounded by nothing but uncertainty and detachment in the world around them.

Death and Consolation is without a doubt a weighty album title. And, The Well is among the heaviest heavy psych bands in existence. So when we say that there’s even more darkness and intensity to the band’s third album than previous efforts, take heed. It’s a deep sea diving bell of enveloping heaviness and longing. 
“This one is a little more personal,” says guitarist/vocalist Ian Graham. “2018 was a strange, dark year. A lot of change going on in my life, there was a lot of depression and coming out of it over the last year. I wanted to call this Death and Consolation, because in life that’s a constant.” 

Sonically, Death and Consolation picks up where The Well — Graham, bassist/vocalist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan — left off with their widely heralded 2016 RidingEasy album Pagan Science. The band once again recorded with longtime producer/engineer Chico Jones at Estuary Studio in 2018, who has turned the knobs for all three of their albums (Jones engineered the band’s debut album Samsara with producer Mark Deutrom [Melvins, Sunn0)))] in 2013.) Samsara, released late September 2014 was ranked the #1 debut album of 2014 by The Obelisk and Pagan Science among the Best of 2016 from the Doom Charts collective. Likewise, the band’s intense — some even say “possessed” — live performances have earned them featured slots at Austin’s Levitation Fest, as well as tours with Kadavar, All Them Witches, Black Tusk and more. 

“This album might be a little less produced, because I didn’t want to push technical stuff as much,” Graham says. “I’m so scared of getting too complicated when getting better at guitar. This is still kind of punk rock.” 

Death and Consolation is available on LP, CD and download, released April 26th, 2019 via RidingEasy Records. Orders are available HERE. 

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Rewind Review: The Well – Samsara (2014)

I’m going to make a bold statement. The Well‘s debut album, Samsara, came out six years ago and might have changed the course of Texas doom metal, and perhaps doom metal everywhere.

Sure, there have been and still are many fine doom bands putting out excellent records influenced by Black Sabbath, early Pink Floyd, King Diamond, Blue Cheer, and Blue Oyster Cult, but what separates those bands from being great doom bands is that they sometimes forget to ease back a bit on all the “Old Ones from a dark hole in space are going to kill us all” stuff and just groove.

The Well (Lisa Alley – bass and vocals, Ian Graham – guitar and vocals, Jason Sullivan – drums) excel at the former and are off the chain in regards to the latter. Samsara‘s opener, “I Bring the Light,” tells a tale of some sort of magic for about three minutes before it explodes into a jaw-dropping sonic blitz that must’ve made everyone who heard it live for the first time stop dead in their tracks or spit out their Lone Star in disbelief.

“I felt the sun upon my face and began to run,” they sing on “Trespass” – a tale of shamans and encroaching dead things suitable for creating a Dungeons and Dragons game based on its lyrics. Speaking of such lyrics, another quest for your adventuring party could start from the opening ones of “Eternal Well” (“I saw a vision in the swirling mist, the stones are bleeding to the lion’s fist.”). Alley’s bass sounds like the heartbeat of a blood-spattered ogre throughout it. Graham’s riffs on “Refuge” sound simple at first but are deceptively wicked when you pay attention.

“Mortal Bones” begins with a sample of Rod Serling talking about ancient Egyptian temples before Graham’s guitar and Sullivan’s thunderous drum fills hit us like a sandstorm. The groove that kicks in near the three-minute mark is a prime example of what I mentioned in the second paragraph of this review. The Well love to groove and began leading the charge to help doom gets its groove back with this album.

Their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” is a fun addition, and is fuzzier than the subject of the song. “Dragon Snort” bellows and roars like some kind of 11 hit dice monster, and the weird breakdown of guitar distortion and feedback is disorienting at first, then hypnotizing, and then shaken by Alley and Sullivan’s anvil-heavy thuds. The closer, “1000 Lies,” dissolves like a melting black candle around the two-minute mark into a smoky trip of Alley’s reverb-heavy vocals, Graham’s oozing guitars, and Sullivan’s hypnotic cymbals and then kicks back into head-banging riffs before you get lost in the fog.

The title of Samsara is fitting for The Well’s first record. “Samsara” is the Sanskrit word for the cycle of death and rebirth. The Well started from the fragments of other bands and was reborn into something new, and it feels like they’re turning doom metal into something new as well.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The Well – Pagan Science (2016)

Pagan Science, the second album by Austin, Texas’ doom rock trio The Well (Lisa Alley – bass and vocals, Ian Graham – guitar and lead vocals, Jason Sullivan – drums), has an interesting cover. The image at first appears to be a veiled angel (complete with halo), but closer inspection shows the halo is dim and crude, the silk veil is either a clear plastic tarp or a shower curtain, and the angel is either a store mannequin or a sweaty woman who is either exhausted or euphoric, or both – which is probably how you’ll feel by the time you’ve finished listening to it.

“Black Eyed Gods” (Maybe the ones who drew that crude halo?) opens with fiery riffs from Graham and Alley and Sullivan being in lockstep from the first beat drop. Graham sings about crimson skies and literal and metaphysical fires burning everywhere. A brief interlude called “Forecast” (“I think the golden age is ahead…Pagan science.”) proceeds “Skybound” – a song that chugs along like some sort of blood-fueled war tank.

The band’s love of Cream (and, to be sure, Black Sabbath) is on display in “A Pilgrimage” with its tuning and rhythm and Graham singing about his deep hate: “Can you feel the hate inside me? Hate that drags me on? Only happy with my sword beside me, keeping me strong.” To be blunt, how fucking metal is that? The back and forth vocals between he and Alley on the track are outstanding, as is the addition of Alley’s moans / cries to those black eyed gods mentioned earlier.

“The children of the forest didn’t know if they should dance or run,” Graham and Alley sing on “Drug from the Banks” – a song about something found in a creepy forest. I love how The Well doesn’t rush this song, they let it bubble like a witches’ brew until they’re ready to serve it hot and pungent.

“No mercy for the sinners, we’ve drawn a line in blood,” Graham and Alley sing at the opening of “Byzantine” while Sullivan hammers out a beat that sounds like chanting orcs. One could argue that this drawn line was done in challenge to other doom metal bands who might try to ape The Well‘s power. “One Nation” is a tale of war and what, if anything, is left behind after it.

The instrumental “Choir of the Stars” follows and drifts like a smoky haze into the fuzzy, heady “Brambles.” “Serpents on the land crossing paranoid sands,” Graham sings, perhaps reflecting a state of constant worry so many of us find ourselves in each day when we are faced with things beyond our control (or even comprehension). The groove of “I Don’t Believe” rocks with not a little bit of swagger, and Graham and Alley’s vocals have that same swagger…and a touch of menace as they face harsh reality (“I don’t believe in anything anymore.”) and “Sacrifice illusions to the sun.”

“I Don’t Believe” closes the album, but picking up the digital version of Pagan Science will score you the bonus track “Guinevere” – which is well worth it. It sounds like a dark(er) Alice in Chains cut and Alley’s vocals are prominent throughout it.

The sorcery / science of this album is powerful stuff, indeed. You should experience it head-on, lest it creep up on you from the shadows.

Keep your mind open.

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