GORILLA PULP formed in Viterbo, Italy in April 2014. Taking influence from a wide range of blues, psych, stoner and heavy rock, they released their first single “Hell in a Can” in December 2015 and quickly followed up with a full length album “Peyote Queen” through Retro Vox Records in April 2016; selling out the first vinyl pressing in less than five months.
Gorilla Pulp have racked up over 200,000 views on Youtube and continually tour Italy and Europe. Their new album “Heavy Lips“, once again on Retro Vox Records is due for release in autumn 2017. The album’s first single “Prey on Your Mind” was released in March and also includes a cover of Santana’s “Hope You’re Feeling Better”.
For more information on Gorilla Pulp, please visit this link.
Saturday main stage headliner SÓLSTAFÍR’s unique blend of metal with beautiful melodies, psychedelic moments and a strong undercurrent of hard/classic rock comes as varied and at times appealingly bizarre as the landscapes of their native Iceland. Their latest album “Berdreyminn” was released through Seasons of Mist on May 26th, 2017 and a European tour in support of the album began on June 10th at Download, Paris.
For more information on SÓLSTAFIR, please visit this link.
As the final nails were hammered into the coffin of Reverend Bizarre in 2007, guitar player Kimi Kärki a.k.a. Peter Vicar began to follow his own doom metal vision, to play this most arcane form of metal in the way it was meant to be played – full of intensity, heaviness and force. Still firmly walking in the footsteps of Saint Vitus, Trouble, Pentagram and The Obsessed; LORD VICAR brings together an international lineup featuring former members of Reverend Bizarre, Count Raven and Saint Vitus.
Their third full-length album “Gates of Flesh” was released in May 2016 through The Church Within Records. Deliberately shorter than previous albums, the band sought to concentrate their trademark heaviness into shorter, punchier songs. The result is an album that the band considers their most focused and intense release to date.
DREAD SOVEREIGN is the born dead brain child of Nemtheanga from Primordial. Years of string hacking and slashing on guitar have finally come to the realization, backed by drummer Johnny King (Malthusian, ex-Altar of Plagues) and guitarist Bones (Wizards of Firetop Mountain).
The blueprint is rough, raw old school doom/metal which hails of Venom, Saint Vitus, Cirith Ungol and touches of late 80s early sepulchral black metal. Their second album, For Doom The Bell Tolls was release in March 2017 through Van Records.
For more information on Dread Sovereign, please visit this link.
Formed by singer/guitarist Necroskull and bassist Emily Witch to embody their love for the form; WITCHSORROW’s puritanical devotion to doom has become their life’s work. With the riffs, misanthropy and pure doom worship of 2010’s self-titled debut and 2012’s God Curse Us, Witchsorrow have earned a reputation as one of the UK’s finest underground doom outfits.
They have played with such luminaries as Saint Vitus and Electric Wizard, toured Europe and performed at Bloodstock, Damnation and Roadburn’s Electric Acid Orgy, not to mention a headlining slot on Sonisphere’s Jagermeister Stage. Having signed to UK powerhouse Candlelight Records, their critically acclaimed third album “No Light, Only Fire” was released in 2015, and work on a fourth album is currently underway.
For more information on Witchsorrow, please visit this location.
Based in Galway and originally from the depths of Connemara in the west of Ireland, Ten Ton Slug have built a reputation for delivering formidable live performances supporting bands such as Ohhms, Planet of Zeus and Slabdragger and securing a support slot with Crowbar for their 2017 Irish tour back in March.
Ten Ton Slug won Metal 2 the Masses Ireland in May 2016 and subsequently played to a packed New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Festival in the UK. The band are hard at work writing new material for release in 2017, with more Irish, UK and European gigs in the works for later in the year.
For more information on Ten Ton Slug, please visit this link.
A two-piece, noise/doom audio/visual project featuring members of Wreck of the Hesperus, On Pain of Death and Pilgrimage.
Beginning with “The Beaten Path” in 2014, they released four songs accompanied by self-produced music videos before collecting them as a self-titled EP in August 2016.
For more information on Gourd, please visit this link.
IRON VOID was originally formed by Jonathan ‘Sealey’ Seale & Andy Whittaker (Solstice, The Lamp of Thoth) in 1998 in order to create an old-school Doom Metal band, worshipping at the altar of Doom legends such as Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, etc.
The band reformed in 2008, with the current line-up consisting of Jonathan ‘Sealey’ Seale (Bass & Vocals), Steve Wilson (Guitars & Vocals) & Richard Maw (Drums).
The Debut EP, ‘Spell of Ruin’, was released on CD in 2010 and re-released in 2012 via Doomanoid Records. Their self-titled debut full-length album was released on CD in 2014 via Barbarian Wrath and released on limited edition vinyl by Fear Me! Music in 2015. The critically acclaimed 2nd album, ‘Doomsday‘ (recorded & produced at Skyhammer Studio by Chris Fielding (Conan, Winterfylleth, Electric Wizard) and mastered by James Plotkin) was released on CD/DD via Doomanoid Records in 2015 and released on limited gatefold vinyl via Fear Me! Music in 2016.
For more information on Iron Void, please visit here.
NOMADIC RITUALS are a heavy 3-piece Sludge/Doom band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Formed in July 2012, the band started gigging and released 3 self-recorded tracks that became their demo “DFWG”. This was followed up in September 2013 with a full-length album “Holy Giants” recorded with Niall Doran at Start Together Studios, Belfast and a 12” split with fellow local Doom band Tome in February 2015. Further gigging and a lengthy period of writing followed, after which they returned to Start Together Studio to record their second full-length album ‘Marking the Day’, released in February 2017.
For more information on Nomadic Ritual, please visit this link.
DEATH THE LEVELLER formed in 2016, when Mael Mórdha’s Ger Clince, Shane Cahill and Dave Murphy were joined by kindred spirit Denis Dowling (Cursed Earth) on vocals. Inspired by the death-doom scene of the early 90s, gothic rock and a variety of other diverse sources; their influences combine to produce doom metal that is at turns epic and introspective.
The band’s name derives from the poem of the same name by James Shirley and reflects the band’s desire to write music that faces the reality and mystery of life and death, without morbidity or fear.
For more information on Death The Leveller, please visit this link.
MOTHER MOOCH are a five-piece heavy psych/doom grunge band from Dublin. Their debut EP “Preludes” was released in March 2015 followed quickly by their critically acclaimed first album “Nocturnes” in November.
They have performed at Siege of Limerick, Canalaphonic, KnockanStockan and Electric Picnic, twice supported Nick Oliveri in Dublin and shared stages with the cream of the Irish heavy psych scene. “Nocturnes” was issued on vinyl through Germany’s Krauted Mind Records in October 2016. They are currently working on their second album.
For more information on Mother Mooch, please visit this location.
THE MAGNAPINNA is one of two Cork bands that emerged in 2015 after the demise of Five Will Die. Dissonant alt-rock, with a healthy dose of humour, added as evident from their debut single and music video for the track ‘Charm Offensive’.
A second track ‘Koi No Jellyfish’ was released at the end of February 2016 and was soon followed up in March with the band’s debut EP “Sex Tape”. For fans of FNM, Neurosis, Tomahawk and The Melvins.
For more information on The Magnapinna, please visit this link.
Crowhammer is the aural manifestation of the endeavours of three scholars (Brother Thom, Brother Bobby and Brother Ivan) to preserve the myths and legends of the planet Vertexia, through the medium of song.
For more information on Crowhammer, please visit this link.
Don’t let looks deceive you, for a 2-piece band VULPYNES make a lot of noise. Expect relentless low-end riffs, snarling vocals and a visceral rhythm section. Inspired by punk and garage rock, Vulpynes are brimming with gritty energy.
For more information on Vulpynes, please visit this link.
KORVID are a 5 piece stoner groove doom band hailing from Belfast. Slower sections straight from the underworld contrast explosive fast paced sections, all tied together by a solid sense of rhythm and groove. Having cut their teeth on the Northern Irish circuit, they released their first single “Solutions of War” in April 2016 and an EP is in the works.
For more information on Korvid, please visit this link.
Tickets for The Emerald Haze Festival are on sale NOW via this link.
Friday day ticket: €15 + €2.50 booking fee
Saturday day ticket: €25 + € 3.00 booking fee
Early Bird Weekend tickets: €35 + €3.50 booking fee
Click here for all the information on Friday’s line up.
Oran O’Beirne
Overdrive.ie 2017
