Earthen Grave

Earthen Grave 
Earthen Grave (reissue)
Ripple Music
Trouble were/are one of the greatest American rock n' roll bands ever. Initially hobbled with the fucking horrible “white metal” tag (they were kinda Jesus-y in their early 80's days, although so were Sabbath, if you think about it), they eventually progressed from thunderous doom metal to an amazing Beatles-y psychedelic hard rock band. But for whatever reason, they've had trouble keeping their ranks together, and offshoots eventually developed. This is my favorite one. Featuring Trouble bassist Ron Holzer and violin virtuoso (!) Rachel Pine, this is an awesomely bleak collection of grungy doom-rock, hooky and even radio-ready, but laced with atmosphere so thick you could choke on it. Seductively dismal stuff. I really dig it, although it should probably come with a bottle of Prozac or at least a flyer for the suicide hotline. Initially self-released on CD last year, Ripple snatched it up and re-issued it on a righteous double-slab of black vinyl.

- Ken