• Gigs of the Week: No Spill Blood, Katie Kim, Slomatics, Holy Fuck, Sister Ghost

    October 13, 2016 - By 

    From the bone-crushing mighty of Slomatics to the propulsive lo-fi electronica of Holy Fuck, this week’s Thin Air Gigs of the Week is a distinctly darker, heavier affair to last week’s guide. Anyone who tries to contest that’s a bad thing is wrong, my friend. Very wrong. No Spill Blood, Robocobra Quartet, Thumper Bello Bar, Dublin Friday, October 14 Trust be told, you’ll struggle to find a stronger three-band Irish bill than Sargent House’s No Spill Blood, Belfast’s singular Robocobra Quartet and Dublin noise-pop Thumper. With that in mind, Bello Bar is most definitely the place to be in Dublin on Friday night. Slomatics…

  • Stream: Slomatics – Rat Chariot

    August 22, 2016 - By 

    With their admirable aim of crushing everything in sight with their monumentally heavy – surprisingly bassist-less – brand of sludge-doom, Belfast trio Slomatics will release their fifth studio album, Future Echo Returns, via Black Bow Records on September 2. The latest reveal of what to expect from that (and it’s safe to say no chins are likely to be rubbed) ‘Rat Chariot’ – featuring vocals from ex-Conan bassist/vocalist Phil Coumbe – bears all the alchemical traits of their flattening, fuzzed out craft. Ear-drum batteringly brilliant stuff. David Majury from the band said, “This was one of the first songs we wrote for Future Echo Returns and in…

  • Watch: Slomatics – Electric Breath

    May 19, 2016 - By 

    Not merely one of the best heavy bands in Ireland, Slomatics are undoubtedly right up there with the finest harbingers of brain-bendingly, bone-crushingly hefty sludge-doom anywhere on the face of the planet. With their perfectly-honed live show at its razor-sharp best and a new studio album, Future Echo Returns, set for release via Black Box Records in September, the three-piece have re-emerged with a typically obliterating new track ‘Electric Breath’. The sonic equivalent of self-exorcism in slow-motion, it trounces in a way and with such clinically resounding execution that Slomatics and few others like them can muster. Created by Dermot Faloon,…

  • Zlatanera w/ Slomatics & Bad Boat @ Limelight, Belfast

    January 2, 2016 - By 

    Hail Satan! After four years, Belfast’s premier groove/stoner devil-worshipping metal band Zlatanera have finally put together their debut album Lergerdemain (literally ‘sleight of hand’, or trickery) and of course launched it in fine fashion in their spiritual home, the Limelight in Belfast. Both they and their two support acts also rather brilliantly showcased the many facets of stoner metal to boot. First of these supports is Bad Boat, who have been kicking around the local scene for the last fourteen years (“we should probably get an album together ourselves” quips frontman Tom Clarke). Tonight they are in outrageously superb form…

  • Track Record: Chris Couzens (Slomatics)

    December 12, 2014 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Chris Couzens from Belfast-based doom overlords Slomatics gives us an insight in his wonderfully wide-ranging record collection. Photos by May Chan. Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast My grandmother bought me Powerslave by Iron Maiden for Christmas in 1984. It made a big impression on me as an eight year old and I’ve been hooked on music since. I could have easily picked any or all of the first eight Maiden records in this list. I went with Number Of The Beast because of the iconic Derek Riggs cover. It’d be impossible…

  • Shortlist revealed for Northern Irish Music Prize 2014

    September 29, 2014 - By 

    With Bangor singer-songwriter Foy Vance having scooped the inaugural award last year, the twelve-act shortlist for this year’s Northern Irish Music Prize has been revealed. Recognising the very best albums released in the last twelve months by a Northern Irish act, this year’s ceremony will see Belfast-based singer-songwriter Robyn G Shiels (above), alt-rock heroes Mojo Fury, the Smalltown America-signed More Than Conquerors, Derry indie-pop quartet Wonder Villains, transatlantic indie-rap duo Malibu Shark Attack, singer-songwriter Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse, electro-pop band Ed Zealous, Nathan Connolly’s Little Matador, singer-songwriter duo Sullivan and Gold, Dungannon folk songstress Alana Henderson, Belfast doom masters Slomatics and multi-instrumentalist Peter McCauley AKA Rams Pocket Radio vie for prize. The shortlist was compiled…

  • Gig(s) of the week: Wallis Bird, Hornets EP Launch & Come On Live Long

    April 23, 2014 - By 

    Having wisely branched out to more than one must-see gig in our weekly preview of shows happening across Ireland each week, this week there was no shortage of gigs to choose from. Alas, we must still be in some ways selective, otherwise we’d be saying, “Go to everything”. And who has the money or time for that? So, looking towards the next few days, we figured the following three shows are more than worth checking out: Having released her debut album, Architect, back in 2012, Wexford folk-pop musician Wallis Bird returns to Dublin on Friday night (April 25) for a show at…

  • Watch: Slomatics – Troglorite

    January 14, 2014 - By 

    Belfast-based doom overlords Slomatics have long been one of our favourite riff-heavy Irish acts. Ten years and a couple of line-up changes into their evolution, the three-piece have just unveiled the video to their latest single, the decidedly crushing ‘Troglorite’ The four-and-a-half minute minute opening track to the band’s forthcoming fourth album, Estron, the creeping, drop-tuned offering evokes the likes of Sleep/early High and Fire and Conan (a band the guys released a split with back in 2011) in equal proportion. Set to be released next month, Estron was recorded and mixed at Belfast’s Start Together Studios and is a concept album…