Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene

Doom metal… desert rock... stoner metal… occult rock. Whatever you like to call it, whatever it is to you, it seems like there's never been a better time to like it.
Not that it ever went away, but its resurgence is doubly fascinating when you recall that the genesis of doom metal and stoner rock goes back close to half a century: to Friday, February, 13^th, 1970, to be precise, when Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album defied its way onto the airways and into history.

What must it have been like to hear the track Black Sabbath for the first time? To hear that haunting bell chime and spine-chilling down-tuned tri-tone (played that way by guitarist Tony Iommi, as you probably know, as a consequence of a horrific hand injury)? And to have a young Ozzy Osbourne declare “what is this that stands before me”?

Actually, many critics panned Black Sabbath upon its release — and didn’t they get their comeuppance. Everyone else, at least if they were cool and open-minded, discovered something dark and amazing. Friday, February, 13^th, 1970 is widely acknowledged as the birth of heavy metal and while doom psych stoner vintage desert groove metal rock have been with us ever since, 45 years after Black Sabbath’s debut, this style of music is bigger than ever.

Whether it’s the fact that even Iceland can spawn a successful vintage rock act; the large number of festivals popping up around Europe and North America dedicated specifically to this family of music and all its ugly cousins; or realising that it is commercially viable for a record label to sell double-vinyl re-issues of ultra-obscure, suicidally slow, agonizingly heavy Australian cult death doom, it’s never been cooler to like doom metal.

Which, as it happens, is magnificent news for the unforgettably-named Melbourne group that calls itself Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene.

Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene

I came across Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene via my professional day activities where I have a connection with one of their associates. We got talking about music (note: this is one of the great things about rock and metal) and he kindly provided me with a promo version of the debut album, Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene: Facing The Ruin.

Facing The Ruin

You get no points for guessing what a group calling itself Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene sound like. The totally ’70s, Black Sabbath-esque, Master Of Reality-inspired logo is a strong hint. The way this band legitimately includes the word DOOM in its name is another.

I wonder what this band sounds like?

But just in case that’s not immediately apparent, Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene play great riff-filled, hazy, smoky music for equally great riff-filled, hazy, smoky rooms.

It’s doom on the lighter side, with plenty of classic and psychedelic rock moments and lots of groove and swagger, occasionally foraying into punk territory, but their bread is still very much buttered on the side of the psychedelic doom tradition.

One could bang on about them, but as with most written descriptions about new albums and releases, the best way to figure out what you think is to check it out for yourself.

Fuck The Fitzroy Doom: Dream. This is track one from Facing The Ruin , and it starts off as Black Sabbath worship in the best possible way.

Track two: White Crystal Lady. This one’s much faster, even going a bit punk, but it gets tamed back to the mid-pace stoner riffs soon enough. No idea what the subject matter of White Crystal Lady could possibly refer to, just like no one knows what Ozzy was singing about in Snowblind and Sweet Leaf.

Track three: Better Off Dead. Those big, groovy riffs take off again. Also, it’s very nice of Fuck The Fitzroy Doom to provide so many videos. As mentioned, the three videos are all from the one album, which happens to be their debut. They’re rather serious about spreading the word.

Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene: Facing The Ruin veers backwards and forwards and around, under and straight through jolly big riffs. They're not overly fuzzed out or face meltingly heavy, just lots of good solid, hard rock riffs. The album spends a lot of time mostly on the mid to slow side and occasionally picks up the pace, before ending on the very chilled out and appropriately named closer, Leaving.

Facing The Ruin is a slow burner, a grower, and an album that is best savoured on multiple occasions. They key is, I’ve found, to give it a couple of listens and willingly open up your hearing canals to allow those ear worm riffs to emerge from the haze and bore into your head.

What’s with the name?

Whether you like it or not, and whether you intend to pay it any heed or not, something that regularly gets Fuck The Fitzroy Doom noticed is the group’s name.

There’s a theory of advertising that says a piece of promotion is inherently effective even if it’s irritating or annoying. That is, an advertisement is effective, according to this school of thought, even if annoys the pants off you. Why? The mere fact that it managed to get your attention means it is successful.

To be clear: there’s no suggestion that Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene make annoying or irritating music. But the name surely gets them noticed.

As mentioned, doom metal and stoner rock is Serious Business around the world right now — and it’s getting bigger. If your objective is to stand out from this surprisingly crowded pack, you might as well grab the attention of onlookers from the very moment they’re presented with even half a fleeting chance to become aware of your existence. So often that first point of contact is on a flyer or event invite. If someone remembers you on the basis that you’re called Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene, then you’ve gotten noticed and presumably achieved your mission.

Or have you?

I asked my associate contact what the story was with the name and he said they came up with it while rather drunk. “Fuck the Fitzroy doom scene,” one of them had said. For non-Melbournians, Fitzroy is an inner city suburb, kind of Bohemian and hipstery, and I’m told the comment was made in reference to the seriousness and gloom that the group members felt was afflicting various local doom purveyors.

Hence, Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene came to be, and hence they play a style of stoner rocking doom psych metal that is big, riffy but nonetheless fun.

The band known as Fuck The Fitzroy Doom Scene in many ways embodies how big this music is right now. Here’s a local Melbourne stoner doom rock band, getting known overseas despite having no more than a debut album under their belts.

Remember, you saw it here first.

Top Five Tuesday: Chinese black metal, Cathedral’s last doom metal opus, and The Devil foresees an Extinction Level Event

It’s time for Top Five Tuesday. Five songs, releases, videos, stories, or whatever else comes to mind that are well worth following up. I think all this music is pretty cool and hopefully you will too. This time it’s mostly metal and guitar-driven stuff…

5) Tengger Cavalry — if there’s such a thing as cavalry metal, this is it
So there’s a guy in China who loves black metal. He also likes folk metal, either knows how to play a variety of traditional folk instruments or knows people who can, is capable of throat singing, and has a thing for ancient Chinese history.

Let me repeat that. Black metal + Chinese folk metal + traditional Chinese instruments + throat singing + songs about riding horses on the steppes.

He started a band called Tengger Cavalry and the two people that I know of who’ve heard the track Cavalry Folk have loved it. Maybe you will too?

The double-album arrived in the post the other (“Hello dearest, a package arrived in the mail. It’s got Chinese writing all over it”) so I won’t say much else until I pick it up.

4) Cathedral – Tower Of Silence

For whatever reason I never got into UK doom metal masters Cathedral. I think it was a combination of just somehow missing out on this much loved band and not being too crazy about Lee Dorian’s vocals.

So Cathedral finally and gracefully called it quits not too long ago, but not before putting together one final album, The Last Spire. It’s officially due out on April 29, 2013 and word on the street whispers from the depths of the crypts of solitude are that it’ll be a good one.

This track, Tower Of Silence, is said to be their last ever official promo video. I love it just for the stripped back, Black Sabbath-esque lead riff which, seriously, doesn’t get any doomier than this. It’s as if they thought, screw this, less is better, and while we’re at it lets have a jolly good old time being all dark and depressive while shooting a video that pays homage to our favourite Hammer Horror flicks. This is heavy man.

 Cathedral: Tower Of Silence from the top. Or if you’re lazy, just skip a minute into the riff.

3) Ethernal — melodic black metal from the UK

Sturgeon’sLaw is a belief often applied in art and culture that essentially says “ninety percent of everything is crap”. Indeed, if I had to nominate a music style where this was especially rife I would have to say… well, actually, I was going to say black metal but come to think of it, it’s all of them actually (except for Aussie hip-hop — which really is consistently awful).

Black metal is a genre that comes to mind when thinking of Sturgeon’s Law because it’s a genre so notorious for its kvlt silliness and deliberate low-quality (i.e. rubbish) recording production. It’s a genre that’s easy to do badly — but is also one that can work brilliantly when done right.

UK black metallers Ethernal are one such group that fall more in the latter camp. They’re a genuine black metal outfit who, while not doing anything earthshakingly different, still go far enough to keep it interesting. Specifically, through a combination of half-decent song-writing (note: “half-decent” is Australian for “rather good”) coupled with a focus on melody over filthy guitar fuzz — all the while still conveying that fatalistic spirit found in good black metal.

I came across Ethernal on a recent Terrorizer magazine compilation CD, featuring the track Seat Of Kings. I love the melodic intro on this one, so much that my personal Last FM listening stats tell me I’ve played it no less than 21 times so far.

It’s worth noting that the Ethernal Bandcamp page offers the The Black Sun EP as a free two-track download, which is very nice of them. Plus, in case you’ve never used Bandcamp before, you can listen to everything else they’ve got, in full.

I’m looking forward to hearing more of their stuff.

2) The Hellfreaks — psychobilly from Hungary

 The Hellfreaks — Boogie Man

This group I came across on one of the many excellent (and great value for money) Gothic compilations. Published in Germany, the Gothic compilations are a wonderful snapshot of happening bands in Europe — and also a reminder of how much bigger “the scene” is in Europe.

So this band featured on Gothic Compilation Part LVI (part 55) and it’s the second psychobilly track I’ve ever listened to properly (as in, ever, in all time). The first one was the track before it on the same compilation, Strange Times Are Coming, by none other than the “originators” of psychobilly, The Meteors.

The Hellfreaks as far as I can tell are from Hungary. They go out of their way play up the imagery, with very heavy emphasis on the over-engineered sexiness of the lead singer. And after you hear her unique voice you’ll either a) want to hear plenty more, or b) you’ll be reaching for a hacksaw to remove your ears.

Interestingly, many of the comments left on their videos seem to be from crusty old psychobilly lovers who seem to love the slap-bass and can’t stand here her vocals. Personally, I love ’em. Either way, The Hellfreaks are a band that are sure to divide people. They also seems to have a sense of humour, if their short rendition of europop stalwarts La Bouche’s Be My Lover is anything to go by.

Check ’em out and give these tracks a listen: The Hellfreaks.

1) The Devil — fantastic “soundtrack” metal built around audio samples and no vocals

This artist is another Terrorizer magazine discovery, and a group about which public knowledge seems to be strangely lacking. What I know comes from a small and somewhat silly magazine interview in which they kind of explained why they remain anonymous and wear masks. Nonetheless, they’re one of those bands that are so mysterious and elusive that their music hasn’t even leaked (yet) into the usual channels.

What is legitimately available for public viewing, however, is a collection of two videos that showcase not only their style but also their awesome multi-media skills.

The first of these videos, Universe, deals with alien conspiracies. The other, Extinction Level Event, is cut up speeches about nuclear war post-WWII. Both make superb use of actual footage and tell a story (because I refuse to use the term “narrative”) put together from various samples. A written description couldn’t do justice to these tracks.

I love them both, so please, watch these vidoes.

 The Devil — Extinction Level Event. And don’t forget to watch the mind-blowing
footage of a bus getting vapourised during a nuclear blast.

 The Devil — Universe. Massive UFO conspiracy business going on here.