Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out

[Deleted member 132197]

Thanks for all the lists! Lots to listen to this week

This weekend I finally took my Gretsch Baritone/Bass VI to practice. For the last hear I have enjoyed sometimes picking it up and just strumming chords with a few basslines. But this time I tried to use it way more as a bass and I really disliked it. The string spacing is waaay too close, I was always a string too high. Thing is; I do love the sound of the bridge mini-humbucker.

So now I'm thinking of maybe just replacing it for a bass with a bridge humbucker. Any suggestions for a short scale bass like that? Preferably priced around $500

 

[Kaa]

(Slowly donning heavy flame armor) I'm not a fan thrash/death/blackmeatl all that much. whilst I like the music (mostly) and the skills of the players, the vocals are usually a turn off. I do like shouted vocals a la Slayer, but the "C. Monster, Esq." vocals of a lot of the bands just aren't my thang, ya dig?
A good friend is waaaayy into thrash, so that's what we listen to on our way to play golf. Nothing like the looks you get when pulling into a parking lot of old dudes packing up their clubs while blasting Slayer in the car.

 

[Andsvara]

@Deleted member 132197
How about a Gretsch Junior Jet II or an Epiphone EB-0?

 

[Kaa]

HCF, for a perfectly usable cheap short scale check out SX. I have the SS P-bass, and it plays just fine. you won't ruin any value if you route it for a bridge PU. (Not sure about the availability in Amsterdam, though. I replaced the tuners, bridge, and pickup in mine, and wouldn't hesitate to gig it regularly. I've had it for a few years, and, once I set the action, it's been rock solid.

 

[Deleted member 132197]

(Slowly donning heavy flame armor) I'm not a fan thrash/death/blackmeatl all that much. whilst I like the music (mostly) and the skills of the players, the vocals are usually a turn off. I do like shouted vocals a la Slayer, but the "C. Monster, Esq." vocals of a lot of the bands just aren't my thang, ya dig?
A good friend is waaaayy into thrash, so that's what we listen to on our way to play golf. Nothing like the looks you get when pulling into a parking lot of old dudes packing up their clubs while blasting Slayer in the car.

Talking about Slayer. Some time ago my shuffle went from Sepultura - Roots to Slayer - South of Heaven and the only thing I could think of was how soft Slayer was

@Deleted member 132197
How about a Gretsch Junior Jet II or an Epiphone EB-0?

Thanks! I owned a Juniour Jet about a decade ago, back then I wasn't truly impressed, maybe I should revisit the bass soon. The EB-0 is indeed on the list. I just really want an Epiphone EB-3, but short scale.

HCF, for a perfectly usable cheap short scale check out SX. I have the SS P-bass, and it plays just fine. you won't ruin any value if you route it for a bridge PU. (Not sure about the availability in Amsterdam, though. I replaced the tuners, bridge, and pickup in mine, and wouldn't hesitate to gig it regularly. I've had it for a few years, and, once I set the action, it's been rock solid.

Thanks for the suggestion, but my P needs are filled. Also, I would probably loose three fingers and a toe when I would try to route anything myself

 

[Kaa]

Talking about Slayer. Some time ago my shuffle went from Sepultura - Roots to Slayer - South of Heaven and the only thing I could think of was how soft Slayer was



Thanks! I owned a Juniour Jet about a decade ago, back then I wasn't truly impressed, maybe I should revisit the bass soon. The EB-0 is indeed on the list. I just really want an Epiphone EB-3, but short scale.

Thanks for the suggestion, but my P needs are filled. Also, I would probably loose three fingers and a toe when I would try to route anything myself

I only suggested the P as a mod platform. I bet you could find someone to route the body for pretty cheap. Worst case, break out the hammer and wood chisel!

 

[arbitrary]

I would STRONGLY recommend Absent in Body’s - Plague God

 

[thombo]

Top 11 Stoner/Doom and Adjacent (me likes it sludgy). I could be switch the alblums depending on my mood, and am forgetting a few bands, but this is pretty comprehensive for me.

• Isis- Panopticon
• Pelican- City of Echos
• Neurosis- Honor Found in Decay
• Sannhet- Revisionist
• Author & Punisher- Cruller
• Deafheaven- Sunbather (will defend this album all day long)
• Mastodon- Crack the Sky
• Boris- Heavy Rocks
• Intronaut- Prehistoricisms
  
• Russian Circles- Geneva
• Torche- Meanderthal

 

[thombo]

Geezer NFT- Geezer Butler Launches NFT Graphic Novel

 

[Grahams Groove]

I'll take a stab at my top 11 albums while I'm waiting for my third cup of coffee to take hold.

Tried to keep it in the stoner/sludge/doom realm, without going as general as just heavy/metal. I also have a penchant for the bands that lean into their progressive sides...

1. Elder - Lore. My favorite band. Absolutely love all of their stuff, and this was kind of the turning point from more pure stoner rock/metal to channeling some of the Motorpsycho, Yes, and Krautrock influences.
2. Yob - Our Raw Heart. Probably my second favorite band overall. Another where I love the whole catalog, but this came around at a tough/perfect time in my life. Saw them 3-4 times on that tour. Magical stuff.
3. Torche - Meanderthal. I remember a coworker throwing this on when I was working at a record store back in the day. Couldn't really describe it, but immediately asked if we could just play it again when it finished.
4. Sungrazer - Sungrazer. Kind of a perfect stoner/psych/desert album. The tunes, the vibe, the production and sounds. I wish Rutger Smeets was around long enough for them to make more music.
5. Mastodon - Crack The Skye. I lean into the first chunk of their discography most, and this one was sort of the culmination of everything I love about them.
6. Russian Circles - Blood Year. Dug these dudes since Station, but the heaviness and riffs on this album are top notch. Really excited for the next album they've been working on. They seem to just get heavier and heavier with each release.
7. Cough - Still They Pray. A great album that really captures their sound. Super brooding, patient, and gnarly sounding. This one has just got an intangible 'something' that had me stuck on it for a long time. It's the darkest on the list and always scratches that itch when I put it on.
8. Fu Manchu - Godzilla/Eatin' Dust. This album just oozes California stoner rock vibes. Groovy, dirty, relaxed, but still very heavy with amazing fuzz sounds and drums. Awesome.
9. Slabdragger - Regress. The band name perfectly describes their sound. Everything about this album screams stoner metal from the riffs to the production to the guttural, bellowing vocals. I also think the jazz bass tones their bassist gets on this album are amazing.
10. Kowloon Walled City - Container Ships. Yeah, they get lumped into all the 'post-xxx' genre tags, and this one is the most debatable on the list in terms of genre. Still, it's heavy, dirty, sludgy in sections, and they've got a knack for boiling their songs and riffs down to a potent essence. Whatever you want to call it, it's worth checking out.
11. Elder - Dead Roots Stirring. Struggled between this one and ROAFW for my second Elder pick. Reflections is more progressive, evolved, and unique, but DRS is just an endless pile of amazing riffs and musical peaks. Plus, if you're not in from the opening - flick power switch, amp comes to life, crunchy guitar comes in - we probably can't be friends...

 

[kleinenenten]

(Slowly donning heavy flame armor) I'm not a fan thrash/death/blackmeatl all that much. whilst I like the music (mostly) and the skills of the players, the vocals are usually a turn off. I do like shouted vocals a la Slayer, but the "C. Monster, Esq." vocals of a lot of the bands just aren't my thang, ya dig?
A good friend is waaaayy into thrash, so that's what we listen to on our way to play golf. Nothing like the looks you get when pulling into a parking lot of old dudes packing up their clubs while blasting Slayer in the car.

It took me YEARS to listen to some bands because of the vocals. For the most part, now I just think of them as another instrument if I can't understand what is actually being said. And much like the guitars and bass, the "vocal instrument" can be incredibly distorted. So I get the "cookie monster" turn off. What is really amazing to me though, is when you can find a vocalist who is both very heavy and understandable. Again, I point to Bolt Thrower. Karl Willets can sound ridiculously heavy, but also enunciates well. Vocally, the black metal shriek was the hardest for me to get into, and it really did come down to me thinking of it as an instrument adding to the atmosphere of the song.

 

[El_Charro]

I'm all over the place for "transformative" albums. They cover all sorts of metal. The first "big" one would be Blind Guardian's "A Night At The Opera" which certainly isn't doom. I remember my brother liking mid-90's Metallica, so I looked into their stuff and found out they liked this "Black Sabbath" band. So I picked up some of their stuff. Then while trying to find more Black Sabbath at a record store (when THOSE were a thing), I stumbled upon Blind Guardian (being so close alphabetically) and saw their Lord of the Rings inspired albums, and the sticker said something about them being the most important/influential band since Iron Maiden (who I didn't know much of at the time, but knew one of my best friends was obsessed!). Anyway, I bought that album, looked at the insert advertising similar bands, and went down a heavy metal black hole that I'm still getting deeper into. I will forever be indebted to Blind Guardian for helping me to go from the most "mainstream" of heavy metal straight to the underground, and never looking back. To this day, I don't really know any "heavy metal" that most people know and is played on the radio. It's all the unknown stuff. As I continued my journey into heavy metal, I just looked at various bands and who toured with who and who knew who or which labels they were on and went from there. There have been TONS of albums that I finally listened to and was amazed by. Pretty much every one opened up a new sub-genre to me, and I then went head-first into a new musical obsession. I just love metal as a whole. I'm a dork, and want to know it all.

If I were to do "transformative" albums as a list, it would be something like this (and this is MUCH easier than an all doom list for me!):

1. Metallica: Master of Puppets - my first metal "masterpiece", though I'm not as into the band as I used to be.
2. Black Sabbath: Sabotage - I just remember this being a huge moment for me, and really digging the varied songs and structures throughout the album.
3. Blind Guardian: A Night At The Opera - As mentioned above, this opened the door for my metal obsession.
4. Iced Earth: Something Wicked This Way Comes - BG and IE are closely linked, and I remember thinking this was the ultimate album back in the day. Led me to look into Century Media as a label.
5. In Flames: Clayman - The song "Only For The Weak" was included on a free sampler disc, and was an integral part of me learning who I am as a person. It was a very empowering song. Though I'm not as big an In Flames fan as I once was, this song was incredibly influential to me as a developing young adult. Really got me started in melodic death metal.
6. At The Gates: Slaughter of the Soul - This put death metal on the map for me. Melodic, aggressive, contemplative and serious lyrics, this made me think about metal. It was also the album that made me pick up a 5 string bass to learn "Suicide Nation". Up until this point I had figured if Geezer and Cliff didn't need 5 strings, neither did I.
7. Kreator: Enemy of God - I'd heard of Kreator before, but never listened to them until college. The second I heard this album, I was hooked. Kreator continues to be one of my favorite bands, and though they had a rough spell in the mid 90's like most metal bands, they have yet to release a bad album in my opinion. This led to looking into German thrash as a whole.
8. Candlemass: Psalms For The Dead - This album re-ignited my love for doom after about a decade since Black Sabbath got me into metal in the first place. From here I went into all sorts of doom stuff. Probably my most recent metal acquisition taste-wise.
9. Burzum: Filosofem - Controversies aside, Burzum is the band that got me solidly into black metal past the "big names" like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. In a particularly dark and lonely part of my life, Burzum spoke to me. I can't say I approve of Varg's actions or anything like that, but on a purely musical level, the minimalist approach and atmosphere created by some of his songs are amazing.
10: Dismember: Massive Killing Capacity - For years, I had shunned straight up death metal. I wanted more melody. Then, I heard Dismember. Straight to the point, but with just enough melody, this renewed my love for all the heaviness in Sweden.
11: Type O Negative: Bloody Kisses - This was my first foray into "doom" metal after Sabbath. Though I enjoyed the band, I never got much past them for many years. Regardless, they got me further into the Roadrunner catalog, which led to countless other metal discoveries.

I feel like I've typed plenty tonight, but as an English major, this seems about how I'd handle such things...

——————————————-
My friend…You have some REALLY good taste in music….

I probably would pick a different Sabbath album, but Bloody Kisses is an amazing album (as much as I love October Rust-I’ve probably gotten more mileage out of Bloody Kisses and musically it’s a little more diverse than October Rust…

I HIGHLY approve of #1 on your list…The Black Album was my favorite album for years bc that was my “gateway drug” for that band…As time has gone on (Marched on? ;-) )…I’ve gotta say that Puppets ties it for my favorite album of all time…As I’ve attempted (poorly) to jam along to that album every Friday night for the last almost two years with bass-I feel like it just makes me appreciate that album even more…Never mind a bad song- There is literally not a bad note on the whole freaking album IMO…

Album is just a rollercoaster of awesomeness -Totally unapologetically in your face at times, but also slow, patient, melodic, diverse and introspective…I’ve been listening to Metallica for 25 years at this point in my life and I can still get goosebumps when I hear the Spanish guitar at the start on Battery…(As a bonus: I have not one, but two Master of Puppets tattoos…I got the crosses on my back, but got tired of not being able to see them so I ended up with them on my arm…

I don’t think I can confine my choices to the Doom Genre in light of you opening the sub genre can…Major Metal album influences for me:

Metallica- The Black Album
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
(I could probably write a dissertation on ranking Metallica album so I probably should just stop here)
Alice In Chains- Dirt (I also really dig Rainer Fog and Black Gives Way to Blue)
White Zombie- Astro Creep 2000 (album still freaking SLAMS even a quarter of a century later)
Pantera-Cowboys From Hell
Pantera- Far Beyond Driven
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath- Master of Reality
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe (he’s never written anything as good as White Zombie, but he gets the closest on this album
P.O.D.- Satellite
Slipknot-Iowa (to be honest-I might actually like All Hope is Gone a smidge more, but pretty sure I’d be in jail right now if it weren’t for Iowa)
Godsmack-Godsmack (too many happy memories of blasting the Hell out of this album in college to leave it off the list)
Marilyn Manson-Golden Age Of Grotesque (AntiChrist Superstar may be considered his best work, but Golden Age is a much more enjoyable slice of Industrial Metal in my book)
Type O Negative-Also going w Bloody Kisses
Iron Maiden-Somewhere Back in Time

I feel like I’m leaving a LOT off of my list, but this was just off the top of my head (and I think I broke the number list rules…Whoops…

As for The Sword-I do like Warp Riders, but for whatever reason Age Of Winters just clicks with me…

As a random side note-I was listening to Monster Magnet this weekend…

They’ve written some really great music, but specifically I feel like PowerTrip is criminally underrated…

As much as I like Dopes To Infinity, I feel like PowerTrip doesn’t get nearly enough love/attention in my current musical rotation…I need to work on correcting that…

Thanks! \m/

 

[cusar5]

As a random side note-I was listening to Monster Magnet this weekend…

They’ve written some really great music, but specifically I feel like PowerTrip is criminally underrated…

As much as I like Dopes To Infinity, I feel like PowerTrip doesn’t get nearly enough love/attention in my current musical rotation…I need to work on correcting that…

Thanks! \m/

Powertrip is a classic for sure. Check out Last Patrol if you haven't already- I feel like it gets underrated in their discography.

Such a good live band too. I saw 'em on the Mindf*cker tour and it was a killer show! Dave can hold the whole crowd in the palm of his hand at times.

 

[lucas303]

Ride the Lightning > Master of Puppets

Fight me

 

[Andsvara]

For the most part, now I just think of them as another instrument if I can't understand what is actually being said.

This is how I got into heavier vocals. They are just another instrument ripping apart your eardrums. Two of my favourite examples for this:

- Death Metal, Cannibal Corpse - Dormant bodies bursting: The vocals are just another jackhammer at the construction site of heaviness. Check out the part at 1:04.


- Black Metal, Marduk (ANYTHING with singer Mortuus) - Everything bleeds (starting at 33:38). A lovely tune about Jeanne d'Arc fingering herself.

 

[Novarocker]

I need to revisit Mastodons discography. I remember early on being a huge fan of the early EP work, but honestly I can't remember poopie of theirs besides a little of hunter, leviathan, and once more round the sun...well that and ATHF theme song

For whatever reason Torche never really did it for me. I need to give their discography another chance.

AIC is great, love their sludgier stuff. Them Soundgarden and a lot of the heavier grunge bands had some awesome stoner/doom/sludge adjacent pieces. To be honest a lot of those songs were some of my favorites of theirs.

 

[lucas303]

For whatever reason Torche never really did it for me. I need to give their discography another chance.

Give this a go...

 

[Grahams Groove]

I need to revisit Mastodons discography. I remember early on being a huge fan of the early EP work, but honestly I can't remember poopie of theirs besides a little of hunter, leviathan, and once more round the sun...well that and ATHF theme song

For whatever reason Torche never really did it for me. I need to give their discography another chance.

AIC is great, love their sludgier stuff. Them Soundgarden and a lot of the heavier grunge bands had some awesome stoner/doom/sludge adjacent pieces. To be honest a lot of those songs were some of my favorites of theirs.

For Mastodon, I think their transition from COTM and Remission to Crack The Skye is super interesting. It’s like they toy more with the extended songwriting and concept side of things on Leviathan and then follow the super progressive thread for Blood Mountain, before blending it all together on CTS.

One of my favorite things about Torche is their ability to trojan horse cool, triumphant major melodies inside down-tuned, distorted riffing. Aside from the Floor record posted above, nothing else really sounds like Torche to me.

And hell yes to the last bit - especially Soundgarden. I feel like a lot of people picked up at Badmotorfinger or Superunknown, but the first two records have some crazy stuff on them.

 

[Kaa]

Ride the Lightning > Master of Puppets

Fight me

(Drops the gloves)

 

[Kaa]

For Mastodon, I think their transition from COTM and Remission to Crack The Skye is super interesting. It’s like they toy more with the extended songwriting and concept side of things on Leviathan and then follow the super progressive thread for Blood Mountain, before blending it all together on CTS.

One of my favorite things about Torche is their ability to trojan horse cool, triumphant major melodies inside down-tuned, distorted riffing. Aside from the Floor record posted above, nothing else really sounds like Torche to me.

And hell yes to the last bit - especially Soundgarden. I feel like a lot of people picked up at Badmotorfinger or Superunknown, but the first two records have some crazy stuff on them.

Mastodon - Crack The Skye is on heavy rotation all the time. The Sword -Warp Riders, and also Apocryphon are heavy rotation. Sabbath - Paranoid, heavy rotation. I listen to a lot of stuff while I'm walking the Battle Dachshund. Interesting bands I'm currently spinning a lot:
Slift - UMMON
Tuber - EP, Out of the Blue, and Desrt Overcrowded
Mother Engine - Muttermaschine
Mantra Machine - Nitrogen