Apotheker, the

Some seriously twisted LOUD & doomy rock from 2 ex-members of the sadly short lived BloodBrainVolume. (One of which is Robert Collins of W.H.N.?, Artimus Pyle, Fuckface, et. al.)

Yet another killer slow & heavy band from Oakland. Think: Unsane, Slug, Jesus Lizard, old Neurosis, Killdozer, High On Fire, mixed with a bunch of weird Christian radio samples throughout. The only drawback is there’s no lyrics. Otherwise, you know what to do - PLAY SLOW OR DIE!

((1)) Bizarre Christian radio thing mixed with air raid sirens & whatnot. Something like a “musique concreté version of Sabbath’s “War Pigs”.
((((2)))) Loud, ugly & thudding ‘ala Unsane mixed with Eyehategod & a little bit of old Neurosis. ((((3)))) Another bizarre Christian radio sample then a nasty mix of Unsane, old Neurosis & Slug with dual male & female vocals in several places. The riffing & low end are quite impressive.
(((((4))))) Slooooww & bass-heavy dooooom with vocals from all 3 members. A slowed down Dystopia mixed with Winter jamming with the Melvins circa 1990? Ends with sample about “the mark of the beast” (Holy crap - it sounds like the “greatest” video vampire - Rev. Robert Tilton!)
(((((5))))) Again, this is remincent of Dystopia but with a slice of High on Fire-like riffing (aka: verrrry groovy & heavy). Ends with more weird “Jesuo-groveler” samples.
((((6))))) Slow & CRUSHING Neurosis/Unsane monster later mid-tempo doom/groove settings come into play.Fucking awesome!
((((7)))) More thudding heaviness with a MASSIVE groove.
((((8)))) Ultra-heavy/noisy yet groovy & pissed ‘ala with a bit more of a contemporary hardcore influence (His Hero Is Gone) by way earoly 90’s era Melvins or verrry early Sleep. FCC: 1:14 “Fucking dreams”
(((9))) Starts off like a Noothgrush or Grief tune (i.e. suuupper slow doom) then it get morre into a ‘apocalyptic rock’ tune.
((((10)))) More mid-tempo & rather pissed noise rock mixed with thuddding doom. Awesome drumming & riffing.
((((11)))) A bunch of feedback then slow sort of psychedelic doom ‘ala High On Fire & Neurosis. Overall a massive ‘wall of sound’ approach that calls for slo-mo headbangin’.
((((12)))) Sounds like the first track, waves of distortion, manipulated voice samples then...pounding, mid-tempo groovy doom-core. Very catchy riffing and some trad-metal/heavy rock soloing.