Crib Notes

Atlanta psych metal trio Zoroaster has completed its third album, Voice of Saturn, due out on Match 10th via the group-run Terminal Doom Records.

Voice of Saturn was recorded at The Living Room with Ed Rawls, and carries Zoroaster’s hallucinogenic hybrid of doom-laden metal, drone and dirge to bombastic new places, and even features a guest appearance from Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds on the song “White Dwarf.”

Voice of Saturn track list:

1.) Intro (1:00)
2.) Spirit Molecule (6:10)
3.) Undying (13:43)
4.) White Dwarf (5:42)
5.) Voice of Saturn (5:25)
6.) Lamen of the Master Therion (7:55)
7.) Outro (14:14)

Bassist / vocalist Brent Anderson was recently featured as a guest on MTV’s Headbangers Blog.

Zoroaster will embark on a full North American tour starting in February. In the meantime you can catch them on New Year’s Eve as they headline a bill with Withered and Subrig Destroyer at the infamous Clermont Lounge.

“Spirit Molecule” (live).

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Mastodon announced today that the tile for their forthcoming full-length is Crack the Skye, which is due for an early 2009 release.

The seven-song album is the follow-up to 2006’s Blood Mountain, and will clock in at 50-minute. The songs were recorded at Southern Tracks Studios in Atlanta  with producer Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC) at the controls.

The group will once again join forces with artist Paul Romano for the album’s cover art which is reportedly epic and involves an eyeball. Multiple packaging formats are expected to be lavish. Details are forthcoming.

Crack the Skye track listing:

1. Oblivion
2. Divinations
3. Quintessence
4. The Czar
I. Usurper
II. Escape
III. Martyr
IV. Spiral
5. Ghost of Karelia
6. Crack The Skye
7. The Last Baron

In the meantime Mastodon is gearing up to head over to Europe to share the spotlight with Metallica for their summer 2009 tour.

Tour dates include:

6/14 - Hartwall Arena - Helsinki, FIN
6/15 - Hartwall Arena - Helsinki, FIN
6/17 - Spektrum - Oslo, NOR
6/22 - Datch Forum - Milan, ITA
6/24 - Palalottomatica - Rome, ITA
7/13 - Palacio de Deportes - Madrid, Spain
7/16 - Hallenstadion - Zurich, SWITZ
7/20 - Copenhagen Forum - Copenhagen, DEN
7/22 - Copenhagen Forum - Copenhagen, DEN
7/23 - Copenhagen Forum - Copenhagen, DEN
7/27 - Copenhagen Forum - Copenhagen, DEN

More dates to be announced soon.

Photo by Jimmy Hubbard

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Last week Rolling Stone’s “Rock and Roll Daily” blog posted an interview with Mastodon’s guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. In the interview Hinds explains how the head injuries he incurred as the result of being attacked at the VMA’s in Las Vegas last year pushed Mastodon to pursue a more melodic direction with their forthcoming album.

According to the story:

“I was dizzy for eight months… During those months, I just sat with my acoustic and a little marijuana, and wrote all the music. I wanted a more melodic, easy-listening situation, and that definitely came from having head trauma.”

From there the group sought out producer Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, AC/DC) to help flesh out the reportedly melodic but heavy as hell sound of Mastodon’s next record.

Read the full story here.

Hinds’ recent run-in with King Khan at the Highland Inn Ballroom in Atlanta (and ensuing witch hunt) hasn’t churned out any musical epiphanies or led to any fortuitous pairings with producers just yet, but give it time…

(Photo by Jimmy Hubbard)

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The inimitable Arish “King” Khan made a surprise appearance at The Highland Inn Lounge last night for the weekly Kirkwood Ballers Club open mic night. The place was packed, spirits were high and Khan, who flew to Atlanta from Berlin, played guitar and sang in an impromptu set with Bobby Ubangi (vocals / tamborine), Frank Jenson (drums), Jessica Juggz (drums), and a guest appearance by Brent Hinds from Mastodon who also played guitar.

The legendary pairing of the king and the behemoth on one stage together seemed to be working just fine as they pounded their way through a few, sloppy garage rock numbers, including a cover of the song, “G–L–O–R–I–A.” The crowd loved it. The band was all smiles and at one point Arish even dumped a beer out on Brent’s head, but it all looked like it was in good fun.

However, the mood changed drastically when shortly after the set, Khan took a fist to the face from Brent, that resulted in a trip to the hospital.

The formerly amicable party atmosphere turned into somewhat of a witch hunt, but Brent had left the building.

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