Atlanteans Order of the Owl and Volume IV are northwardly bound, on their way to the Eye of the Stoned Goat in New England next weekend. But along the way, they’re making a few pit stops — the “No Sleep Till Stoned Goat” mini-tour kicked off last night in Tennessee, and will be followed by jaunts through Pennsylvania and New York before hitting Massachusetts for Sunday’s festival. If you happen to live in the general proximity of any of these shows, I can’t recommend highly enough that you take advantage of your chance to check out both bands.

 

 
I was fortunate enough to catch Order of the Owl the last time they were in Pittsburgh — incidentally, at the same venue where they’ll be playing tonight. For those unfamiliar with Garfield Artworks, it’s basically a long hallway-shaped art gallery with a platform for live music at one end. And these guys came rolling in with a wall of Orange cabinets that you might expect to see backlining an outdoor ampitheater. Believe me, this was a loud show. But more than just that, the crushingly heavy volume of sound combined with the tone of the songs in a way that really managed to convey the message of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

 

 

 

After my ears quit ringing (maybe a week later?) I was finally able to listen to the CD I’d bought at the show — their 2012 album In the Noon of the After Day — and was blown away again. It was a very different experience: for example, on the album you can actually hear the vocals rather than the faint suggestion that there may be some vocal part buried under those waves of music. But still, the recorded version is no less impressive. All those crushing riffs, with just enough of a hint of melody to drill its way into your subconscious and stay rooted there for days, combine for quite a hypnotic experience. Listen to it here:
http://orderoftheowl.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-noon-of-the-after-day

 

 
On the other hand, Volume IV are a relatively recent discovery for me — I only found out about these southern stoner/fuzz/swamp metal riffmasters a couple months ago when the release of their debut album Long in the Tooth was announced by Ripple Music. At first glance, you may think you already know what to expect based on the band having the same name as a classic Sabbath album. And indeed, they do share a certain dark aesthetic and foundation of metal riffs with the Godfathers of Heavy Metal, but this is no dull imitation (unlike several other bands I could mention who are named after Black Sabbath‘s album or song titles!) — no, they draw a healthy dose of inspiration and combine that with various other influences and then put the whole mixture through a markedly southern distillation, somewhat like you might hear from folks like Down or Corrosion of Conformity. You can check that album out right here:
http://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/long-in-the-tooth

 

…and then be sure to get out to whichever of these tour dates is nearest to where you live. I’ll be at tonight’s Pittsburgh show, and I hope to see lots of you there too!

No Sleep Till Stoned Goat Tour

 

• 29 April 2014 – Hideaway, Johnson City TN
  http://www.facebook.com/events/284494845047223/
• 30 April 2014 – Garfield Artworks, Pittsburgh PA
  http://www.facebook.com/events/289528244545061/
• 01 May 2014 – Good Weekend, Allentown PA
  http://www.facebook.com/events/1430805847155037/
• 02 May – The Lair, Buffalo NY
  http://www.facebook.com/events/1419504764963889/
• 03 May – The Acheron, Brooklyn NY
  http://www.facebook.com/events/240971596089458/
• 04 May – Eye of the Stoned Goat – Ralph’s Rock Diner, Worcester MA
  http://www.facebook.com/events/586404324760804/
   
  

 

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http://www.facebook.com/orderoftheowl
http://orderoftheowl.bandcamp.com/
 
http://volume-iv.com/
http://www.facebook.com/VolumeIV
http://volumeiv.bandcamp.com/