The Lion's Daughter

The Lion’s Daughter are a fast and furious Hardcore/Sludge Metal Band with a great social conscience attached to their music. They have featured on the blog before with their awesome split with Fister.

Well the guys are back with their eagerly awaited full length record – Shame On Us All – An 8 song bruising 32 minute encounter of top-notch Hardcore driven Sludge Metal riffs.

Thank God these guys sent me their album to review. This is the perfect album to headbang to with things not going your way. These guys don’t do happiness or rays of light. They are master tacticians dealing with in fast and furious Hardcore/Sludge Metal riffs.

Shame On Us All is a hard-hitting blast of bruising riffs that will surely leave you drained from start to finish. They have the passion of an angry Thrash Metal Band but in the realm of Sludge Metal.

The band wisely throw in some hard-hitting Social soundbytes to get their message across and I applaud them for not shying away from the bleak side of life.

Especially on tracks like – “Deadbeat At Dawn”, “Heavenless Far From Earth”, and “World Ender – Buried In Dust”.

These guys know how to play a mean down-tempo Sludge metal riff full of despair and passion at the same time. Plus the vocals are truly full of anger at the world but still makes you care at the same time.
This is a band with a purpose and nothing is going to stop in their in delivering their own brand of bleak down-tempo Hardcore/Sludge Metal.

If you’re into the legendary hard-hitting bands of the NOLA scene such as EHG and Corrosion of Conformity then these guys will appeal to you big time like myself.

The 32 minutes just flies by. You don’t know what you have just witnessed but your edging towards the repeat button on your MP3 Player. This is an amazing album from a great band who know how to write a top-notch hard-hitting tune with blazing Sludge Metal riffs to match.

Shame On Us All is superbly produced and played by all involved. You can hear every note played to brutal top notch perfection. The drumming is a major high point. Full of precision and drive that you will find hard to ignore.

Then again all the band are amazing musicians and each play their own part in delivering an album you cannot ignore. If you do you will be missing one of the heaviest and fastest Sludge Metal records of 2012.
Brilliant and Highly Recommended. - Cvlt Nation

I’ve been wondering for quite some time now… “What the fuck DO they put in the water in St. Louis, anyways?!?” In case you hadn’t heard the news, STL is home to a host of howling mad freaks of nature who have steadily built a reputation for tuning out some of the most caustic, blistering noise of the post-apocalypse, so you can’t help but ask.

However, before we get to that question, we’ve got a little work to do in dealing with the notion of “misanthropy and modern metal”. Kind of a chore, but thankfully, The Lion’s Daughter showed up just in time to help sort that shit out.

Now, then… to the dirty work.

Bile and vitriol aren’t exactly what I’d call “rare commodities” in the world of metal – quite the opposite, in fact. Listening to far too many bands these days, you’d think that the world is full of broken men who didn’t get enough hugs as a child. Sadly, it seems that some people form a band just so that they can whinge and moan and smear their miserable existence all over the rest of humanity in the name of “art” or “self-expression”.

Thankfully, for those of us who can see it, there is a thin line that separates these sort of boring little shitstains from those who have learned how to stare the beast down, stare the fucker in the eye and wrestle with it until it’s tamed. It’s an battle as old as time where victory rarely lasts long enough to savour and is never absolute; Despair and defeat, however, are all too common. The Lion’s Daughter have been locked in this unending battle for many untold years and have brought forward a report from the front lines with Shame On Us All.

The carnage begins with “Eaters Of The Sun” which by way of it’s title, conjures visions of sublime mysticism. More importantly, to my ears, it’s also an early indicator that the band have stepped up to the plate BIG TIME as well as a subtle tip of the hat towards the altar of some of the band’s influences – most particularly in this case, Mötorhead. It’s “subtle” in the sense that it sounds like someone slipped Lemmy and the boys some really gnarly buzzard dust and told them that the would had just run out of JD and Marlboros. Whether it’s intentional, subconscious or I’m way off the mark, the point is that TLD do themselves justice and start kicking ass, first things first.

As if raw power and terminal velocity weren’t enough, The Lion’s Daughter also have a secret weapon: Wry wit and black sense of humor. (eg. “Everyone I Went To High School With Is Dead” from their previous release, Hemimetabolous). With “Deadbeat At Dawn” is an obvious goof on splatter flicks, but it sounds as serious as cancer. The musicianship is there throughout – sold, burly riffs, etc. etc. and in spite of all the unbridled carnage that thy tear off, the guys also show that they know how to build an interesting song.

“Heavenless, Far From Earth” is the album’s “feel-good hit single”. As with the rest of the album, it’s a song that doesn’t sit in one place for very long as TLD dish out a smattering of varied sounds, including crust, black metal, drone and some good ol’ shitkickin’ thrash. This sort of “dog’s dinner” approach to the songwriting is where the magic really happens on this album and “Heavenless…” is one of the best examples.

On “The Signal Was Lost”, the band take the opportunity to let the battered listener up for air for a moment. It also lends some mood and context to the album. More often than not, I find that inserting samples of the spoken word taken from film or other sources to be dull and hokey, at best. However, the guys manage to hold my interest and stick the landing with this one. In fact, the commentary speaks rather well to what’s at the heart of Shame On Us All. Again, it’s in line with what I said earlier about being able to draw some insight from the state of this wicked world vs. those self-described “misanthropes” who shit all over themselves in a ploy for attention or a misguided effort to “step outside” the norm of conventional thinking.

“World Ender/Buried In Dust” is another one of the album’s high-water marks. Once again, The Lion’s Daughter have raised themselves to new heights here, but I can’t help but think that there’s a bloodline that extends from the golden age of black metal: Maybe it’s my imagination, but to my ear, shades of Bathory are briefly and tastefully revealed. There is also a hearty and well placed “Oooh!!!” that would make Tom G. Warrior proud.

By now, TLD have got their hooks in deep and have you eating out of the palm of their hand – the perfect time to deliver a knockout punch. “Mr. Self Destruct” is an absolute coup as the boys take a time-honoured classic and make it their own, tying it it in perfectly with the rest of the album. Absolutely ucking brilliant!

“The Bringers of Shame” is the final descent and to be honest, it’s a little anticlimactic. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not a bad tune, per se, but it’s quite a ways from the finer moments on the album. It it may not end with a bang, this album sure as hell does not end with a whimper, either.

So in the end, what’s the damage?? Rather than bothering with ill-conceived posturing or attempting to deliver some sort of bumbling narrative on “man’s inhumanity against man” like many of their contemporaries, The Lion’s Daughter have managed to make a real and cogent statement about the ugly side of life and at the same time, show that they’re moving steadily onward with unyielding dedication to their ungodly craft.

As to what they put in the water in St. Louis? ”Pissfork” says it all. - The Bone Reader

Have you heard of Missouri’s The Lion’s Daughter? I’ve written about this trio a few months back, after hearing their impressive EP, “And Their Masters Bled For Days“. Having enjoyed their music, you can imagine I was pretty excited to hear from Vocalist\Guitarist Rick Giordano about the band’s fresh new upcoming full length, “Shame On Us All”, which was released just two days ago!

As one could guess from the dark & obscure cover art on the right(again done by artist Coby Ellison), this release is oldschool to the bone, yet much darker and sludgier than its predecessor – A fiery black hole of an abyss, this is what “Shame Us All” sounds like.

“Eaters of The Sun” starts the album with a whirlwind of sinister resounding chords, reigned upon by Giordano’s hellish texture of vocals. The whole thing holds you within its grasp with brooding doom, and soon enough it does plunge into a heavy plodding section, the riffs digging slower but deeper into the song’s surface, while eerie leads accompany them like voices in a sonic eulogy.

On track three, things become more darker and dissonant, the low notes played in fast tremolo, until another even slower break arrives to drowns us all in despair; check it out below:

I won’t go over each song, but know that “Shame On Us All” maintains this evil-sounding, oldschool vibe all throughout the album, the only so-called “relief” from heaviness being the intriguing intro “The Signal Was Lost”, an end-of-the-world prophetic piece with a disturbing & powerful atmosphere.

In a sense, the album is a natural continuation of “And Their Masters Bled For Days“; a wider soundscape that allows The Lion’s Daughter to further explore their DM\BM\Sludge hybrid subgenre. Successfully executing this style full scale is harder than on an EP, and while some tracks here do feel “samey” due to their similarities, the album as a whole does not fall into the trap of being bland. I’m really glad I found about these guys and if you feel the same you should definitely follow them on Facebook or check out their Bandcamp page. - Underrated Reviews

The Lion's Daughter - Shame On Us All (2012)
The Midwest takes a bad wrap for pretty much everything under the Sun. I contest that when it comes to metal, however, St. Louis' scene is still strong and full of more rage than any posh "thrashers" from the coasts. There is plenty to be pissed about right here in America's Heartland, and Good Die Young Music's The Lion's Daughter is that aggression incarnate. Currently working on a new split with St. Louis folk outfit Indian Blanket, The Lion's Daughter continues to destroy on a fairly regular basis, mastering their unholy, unforgiving brand of sludge metal.
On Shame On Us All, the band rips through a solid offering of blistering drums, ripping guitars and devastating vocals that continuously crushes and nearly induces physical pain from sheer brutality. There is no slowing down with The Lion's Daughter, as each track gets louder and faster than the last, the band creates an impressive effort that could stand against any big name in the genre today. Given the talent and raw nature of the group, the music never truly shows any weak spots, simply working on a number of levels that adds a dark, 'we-don't-give-a-fuck' ethos.
Pain, suffering and human ignorance serves as a strong creative element for the group, fitting in line with the music that is nearly as grim. Despite the black cloud aesthetic, The Lion's Daughter is still a band that is fun in the metal sense. Offering up a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Mr. Self Destruct" from the band's 1994 release The Downward Spiral, The Lion's Daughter places an interesting twist on an industrial classic that still speaks to millions of music fans across the world.
Energetic and looming, live performances are nothing short of an auditory riot. As the band continues to create and firm up their skills, they are looking toward a path that is sure to gain recognition amongst many outside of the St. Louis area. Given their next release is a split with a genre totally on the other end of the spectrum, The Lion's Daughter is clearly looking to combine their efforts with others they respect, despite a drastic difference in sound. It's this mindset that could just make the band more unique than even I suspect.
It should also be noted that the cover art for Shame On Us All is an original piece of work from St. Louis artist Coby Ellison, an extremely talented dude that will hopefully find himself featured on our new artists page in the near future.
~Joe - Ride with the Devil

Take a good, long look at the album artwork to "Shame On Us All," the new album by St. Louis three piece The Lion's Daughter, and you won't have any doubt of what you are getting yourself into. This isn't a cookie cutter pop album, or the next installment of smooth R&B. This sludge covered, blackened death machine haven't come to whisper sweet nothings in your ear. They would much rather destroy your eardrums with a crushing blend of screams and overwhelmingly heavy instrumentals. Through eight tracks, these three men may have grown adults looking for monsters under the bed.

This isn't a subtle offering by any means, as the early moments of "Eaters Of The Sun" will prove. Instead, you are immediately pummeled by a tidal wave of guitars, bass, drums and harsh vocals. No waiting for the hammer to drop, no wondering what kind of album you've gotten your grubby mitts on. The deathly vocal lines may be enough to coax the shit right out of you. If not, the thunderous low end will surely do the trick. The outro, which doubles as a breakdown, is just plain scary. Wasting no time, "Deadbeat At Dawn" continues the gang beat down you already began. It's the small touches that make this track special, mainly in the guitar riffs. Whether they are darting out on their own, or tangled in the murky web of the bass line, they feel like hands around your throat, choking the air from your lungs. Oh, and "fuck you too."

You definitely get the black metal tone in "Heavenless, Far From Earth," both in the sheer speed of the drumming, and in the raw mixing quality. Vocalist Rick Giordano isn't one to lull you to sleep with a dreamy melody, when he could just as effectively pound your skull to a pulp with his fear inspiring screams. A slower, downtempo section emerges, surprisingly, changing the entire mood of the track, with rolling drums filling most of the void. Drummer Erik Ramsier pounds you with snares and toms, and Giordano passes his pain along to you with every word. Despite the fact that "The Signal Was Lost" comes in with a more restrained approach, don't be fooled. The feedback and pulsing drums are merely a vessel for the next track, "World Ender: Buried In Dust." The blackened death metal sound has come full force here, with every moving piece locking together in a brutal sweep of riffs and rage. A murky assault of distorted chords follows, with vocals that seem to get more abusive as they go on.

If you thought you had heard the heaviest this three piece has to offer already, you were sorely mistaken. The four minute topping "Shifter" is mind blowing in its density, packing more punch in every note than you could have imagined. Something to take notice of is the way they manage to give you more of what you want, that being heavy handed instrumentals, without sacrificing the songwriting process. This isn't just repetitive chords and cliche drumming. There are clearly defined melodies, for lack of a better word, that bassist Scott Fogelbach leads with grace. In a devilish game of "peek-a-boo," the band starts their version of the Nine Inch Nails song "Mr. Self Destruct" with feedback and a drum beat, before screaming directly in your face. They make the song their own, but in a way that would make Mr. Reznor proud. The longest track on the album is the closer, "The Bringers Of Shame." Coincidentally, it is the most complete offering as well, with each instrument coming through with a clarity that only increases their strength. Through the bevy of double kicks and piercing snares, Giordano shakes your very skeleton in ways that may leave you frightened long after the music has faded away. There is a distinct possibility that he is the monster that has been hiding under your bed all these years.

We often ask, rhetorically, what they put in the water in various cities that makes their men so big, their women so beautiful, or their kids so stupid. But never have we asked that question of St Louis, in reference to how their metal got so damn nasty. The Lion's Daughter, along with fellow St. Louis sludge lords Fister, are starting to give cause for concern, that the home of The Gateway Arch may be the last place you ever visit. The frighteningly good, yet wholly punishing, tracks on "Shame On Us All" have left me feeling one thing. If this is what the lion's roar sounds like, I am not going anywhere near him... or his daughter.

8.5/10 - Sorrow Eternal

I’ve had to re-write this review around three times to really sum up my feelings about A Black Sea, the collaborative album from St. Louis sludge metal band The Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket, a folk outfit from the same city. Although I haven’t had much time to listen to the album, I feel quite strongly that it is one of the finest extreme metal albums released in 2013.

I first heard of this project right here, when Islander posted a stream of “Wolves,” the first cut from this album. That song’s mix of metal and folk brought up more than a few touchstone sounds—Agalloch and Neurosis, most obviously, and Opeth and Cobalt to a lesser degree. It made a good enough first impression to put A Black Sea near the top of my priority list.

Consider expectations met. A Black Sea is the sort of album that one can listen to from front-to-back and then re-start. Both Indian Blanket and The Lion’s Daughter carry a versatile array of styles, and employ every one of them on this album. As a result, even though the overriding mood stays bleak, the album winds from churning sludge to delicate acoustic passages—it feels every bit like a journey across the titular sea, or into the foreboding, prehistoric forest depicted on the cover.

Instrumentally, the record throws a lot at the listener, all at once, and it takes more than a few listens to parse out all the different textures at work. Whereas many folk-metal outfits will cut their songs into ‘metal bits’ and ‘folk bits,’ the lines never becomes too opaque here—even the heaviest riffing comes with some sort of stringed instrument accompaniment (courtesy of the talented Gina Eygenhuysen), at times almost ringing true of Emperor. Likewise, the folk bits frequently play over a pedal-tone or feedback texture.

Some special attention needs to be paid, first to The Lion’s Daughter. Calling them a sludge metal band is itself a disservice—these musicians are proficient at several styles of metal guitar. At times they beat Neurosis at that venerable band’s own game, and at times their riffs reek of mid-period Black Sabbath. The song “Swann” more or less becomes a showcase of their sub-genre quick-change act, morphing from a Meshuggah-like polyrhythm pulse into something more akin to Cascadian black metal. If those words don’t mean anything to you, dear reader, expect organic pushes-and-pulls in tempo, and shifting moods from aggression to meditation and back.

As for Indian Blanket, the folk-centric tracks “A Song for the Devil” and “That Place” focus on wounded clean vocals by Joe Andert. His cleans don’t soar so much as hover, like buzzards circling a lone traveler dying of thirst, praying alternately for more life and the swift release of death with each breath. Andert’s compositions, unlike say the folk-centric tracks by Panopticon on last year’s Kentucky, are all originals. That the album ends with him, virtually alone, illustrates just how instrumental he was to the creation of this record.

But the finest cut here may be the instrumental “Timeless Waters,” where the metal and folk instrumentation work in perfect unison, building from aimless wandering into a crushing whirlwind of isolated doom. Together, these bands know how to set a scene and take their time filling it with melodies and textures.

The union of Americana and folk metal has yielded some of the finest fruit in the past few years. I speak of records like Agalloch’s Marrow of the Spirit, the aforementioned Kentucky, and Cobalt’s magnificent Gin. Earlier, Islander meditated on what albums we, as metalheads, might consider—for lack of finer terminology—works of art, and the albums I just mentioned fall into that category for me. My assessment may be premature, considering how little time I’ve had to digest it, but so far A Black Sea absolutely stands with such esteemed company, for me. This is one hell of an album, and one that may be sadly slept on my the metal press at large. Give these fine gentlemen and women your attention—these young masters deserve it. I hope they continue to collaborate, and I can’t wait to hear what they cook up next. - No Clean Singing

For the many blurred lines between St. Louis bands -- in which players dip in and out of each other's projects, or claim membership in a whole host of acts -- there is less true collaboration among bands than might be expected in our big/small town. So the meetup documented on A Black Sea is made all the more curious by the odd bedfellows that joined forces wholesale for this eight-song set.

The Lion's Daughter is a pummeling doom-metal trio helmed by guitarist and singer Rick Giordano (an RFT Music contributor on all things metal). Indian Blanket is a soft-touch folk quintet built around Joe Andert's intricate songwriting and careful, minor-key guitar strums. The common ground the bands share isn't exactly musical; it's emotional. Both bands mine the raw terrain of unflinching self-doubt, though they approach it with distinctly different decibel levels.

These singers could scarcely be more different, so it's not hard to tell Andert's sections from Giordano's. Andert sings with a sweet, beguiling melancholy that wraps around his band's orchestral-folk arrangements; Giordano growls like a hellbeast harvesting souls. When this marriage works, you can hear the emotional pull of Andert's songs get echoed by the visceral push of Lion's Daughter.

Opening track "Wolves" takes its time building to the punishing middle section, the fluttering string arrangements from Indian Blanket's Gina Eygenhuysen being matched by Giordano's electric guitar slashes. Often, though, the songs on A Black Sea feel less like a synergy of two distinct bands and more like a channel switch from one to the other. "Swann" begins with a creaking ambience, as bowed strings mimic haunted windchimes and eerie bells play a simple melody line. That mood is blasted away by Lion's Daughter's power trio double-kick-drumming its way through that melody. Indian Blanket returns for the coda only to be buried again.
It's better to say that Indian Blanket provides the nail to the Lion's Daughter's hammer. This relationship is most effective on the album's last song, "That Place." It's Andert and company's most entrancing arrangement, and they're given the bulk of the track to play the ballad amid guitar strums and mandolin plucks. When the metal kicks in, there's still room for a swooping violin solo and the final words of Andert's tale of drunken regret. On that track and others, the synthesis pushes each band outward. Is it doom-folk or orchestral-metal? Probably best not to overthink what to call it, exactly. A Black Sea is far from a seamless collaboration, but when the two bands lock in together, they produce a brutal beauty. - Riverfront Times

Collaboration in its truest form is defined by two or more artists coalescing their strengths and crafts into one cohesive piece of music, rather than simply combining the two and hoping for something comprehensible to emerge from the creative deluge.

Prolific bands like Boris have worked on records with Sunn O))) (Altar) and Ian Astbury (BXI), each distinctly different from the respective components' output but still maintaining scents of their original work at the same time. Iron Lung are another band that truly mastered this craft, especially with their Public Humiliation record, working with Walls and Pig Heart Transplant to create a harrowing torrent of noise and power violence.

This brings us to St. Louis, Missouri, the home city of The Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket, two bands whose music is worlds apart yet here they are together in the form of A Black Sea. The Lion’s Daughter made their presence felt last year with Shame on Us All, their first full-length, a melee of visceral sludge imbued black metal, a la Wolvhammer, that raced through fiery blastbeats and caustic vocals with a punky flair. Indian Blanket on the other hand are versed in sullen and solemn folk music, guided by melancholy vocals and acoustic guitars complemented by verdant violin arrangements.

On A Black Sea, The Lion’s Daughter have reined in their tempo, broadly speaking, traversing a more doom-oriented plain all the while Indian Blanket lead the album’s sombre melodies with acoustic guitars, genteel and sombre vocals and utterly gorgeous violins.

The album’s opener ‘Wolves’ presents the pairing’s modus operandi in evocative fashion as pastoral acoustic verses, helmed by serene clean vocals, bloom into trudging swathes of sludge-laden doom metal riffs glossed with dramatic violins and bellowing vocals from The Lion’s Daughter’s Rick Giordano, soon accompanied by heartstring yanking vocal harmonies that conjure up one compelling sound.

This bleeding heart emotion is easy to dissect from the album’s more visceral sides with lush melodies poking through the grooving riffs of ‘Gods Much More Terrible’, and ‘Swann’ delving into an emotively rich trough only to scale to a stunningly poignant crescendo.

‘Song for the Devil’ plucks notions from the darkest of country, laden with morose acoustic guitars and solemn vocals meanwhile ‘Sea of Trees’ is the closest thing to black metal on this record with scorching tremolo guitars and utterly violent vocals. It’s the closest thing on this record that could be mistaken for simply being a track from The Lion’s Daughter.

It somehow leads us into ‘That Place’, the album closer. More gloomy acoustic passages helm the path before guitars come crushing in again but maintains the melodic tones with clean vocals from Indian Blanket’s Joe Andert who regales tails of regret in a swelling chorus, sounding like a gloomier take on modern-day Anathema.

A Black Sea is compelling in its melancholy, marrying two diverse entities into one while showing no creases or folds, rather flowing naturally and seamlessly into each other; in many regards it’s an unexpected triumph but still wholly welcomed. - The Grind That Annoys

Hello music fans. While there have been some fantastic albums coming out recently, I have just been admittedly too unmotivated to review them. Now don’t get me wrong, albums like Beck’s Morning Phase and Crosses’s Crosses have been some stellar albums (check those out by the way), but they haven’t been albums I can really bring myself to write about really. They didn’t strike the kind of impact on me like I thought they would. However, there has been one group that has left me amazed since January, and that group is The Lion’s Daughter.

I first heard about this St. Louis outfit through posts from grindcore group Pig Destroyer. They happened to be playing a couple of shows together, and the group was being praised highly by those who commented on the posts. My curiosity definitely rose by these comments, so I decided to punch them in on YouTube and check out what the hubbub was all about.

When I first opened the video to "Swann" I was greeted with an eerie piano and strings intro. What came next was something I could have never expected. The intensity, emotion and technicality they managed to pack into about 7 minutes was simply astounding. The song changes effortlessly from fast-paced grind in the vain of bands like Pig Destroyer and Cattle Decapitation, to technical madness that only bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Botch could pull off, and then to what could very well be the most emotional ending I’ve ever heard in a song.

This song left me feeling the same way I did the first time I heard bands like Nirvana or Napalm Death, which was a feeling of absolute love. So with the desire to hear more, I listened to the entire A Black Sea album and was blown away even more than I had been by "Swann". This band was able to shift sounds in almost every song, going anywhere from grindcore to mellow folk music( I want to give some immense credit for that to the folk band Indian Blanket, who were the collaborators on this album)! The diversity in this band was simply remarkable to me.

And then there’s the vocals. You can tell that what is being sung in those songs are something that the vocalist feels a very strong connection to. He is pretty much killing his lungs just to express how he feels throughout this entire album. In many cases, you can’t tell whether or not the vocalist has a deep connection to the words just by listening to the song. This band is one of those very rare cases where you can.

That is pretty much all I can put down at the moment. I could say so much more (AND I REALLY WANT TO), but my brain is not functioning well enough this late at night to come up with more descriptions of this group. But I also made this post for a reason. I want all of you to give a listen to bands like this one. It is a band like The Lion’s Daughter that brings so much beauty to their music, but yet is receiving absolutely no credit for it. So I encourage people to go out and dig around for some new cool music! Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a band you love as much as I love these guys. - Revolutions Per Minute

When it comes to splits, originality has pretty much been abandoned. You either have the two groups offering up not-so-rare b-sides or each group covering a song written by the other. In the end, there isn't anything too special about the split except for the fact that it (hopefully) comes on some nice splattered vinyl.
Enter "A Black Sea," not so much a split as it is a collaboration between two of St. Louis, Missouri's premier bands, thrash metal crushers The Lion's Daughter and folk rockers Indian Blanket. Although an odd-sounding idea on paper, "A Black Sea" is a beautiful and crushing album all in the same instance, bringing together two completely opposite ends of the musical spectrum and forming a juggernaut of talent.
Early on, tracks such as "Wolves" and "God's Much More Terrible" reflect the collaborative aspect more literally, incorporating softly strummed acoustic chords and smooth vocals that soon give way to booming guitars, bass and raspy screams. While the harmony changes are quite obvious in the tracks, the overall effect leaves a lasting impression. The initial back-and-forth of the musical styles is not a push and shove for dominance auditorily, but a sort of flowing presence that sounds so effortless it's haunting.
Later songs "Song For The Devil" and "Sea Of Trees" hold a bit more consistency in their sounds, but still possess a feeling of mixed genres. With heavier elements of acoustic bass incorporated into the folkier territory and woodwind instruments popping up throughout, the album continues to develop and morph, never settling on one area too long. Even when winding down on a softer note, "A Black Sea"maintains a sense of darkness and sorrow, the guitars turning bluesy and the lyricism remaining serious and somewhat dejected.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the record is that it is currently incomparable in its existence. It could be argued that influences may have motivated certain parts of the effort, but the final result sods unlike anything else I have heard in several years. A truly remarkable piece of work, both bands should be proud of what has made its way to the masses and will surely be enjoyed by many for years to come. Creativity is lacking in almost every facet of society these days, so to the parties involved n the creation of "A Black Sea," I say thank you.
With only 250 versions of the album pressed (50 of which were on limited white vinyl that are LONG gone), remaining copies are limited. Those interested in snagging one of the last few copies may be in luck if they check out Good Die Young Music. Those heathens who prefer digital only may also find the album on iTunes.
~Joe - Ride with the Devil

"A Black Sea" is the result of a collaboration between dark and sombre folk group Indian Blanket, and black doom metal band The Lion's Daughter, both hailing from St. Louis, MO. What these 2 bands have achieved together is an absolutely perfect fusion of doom and folk into a cohesive single element that is breathtaking in it's brilliance. This is the only release on my list that I did not review as it fell upon my ears right at the tail end of '13 but since then I cannot stop listening to it. I am a fan of folk music in its many forms, and I especially enjoy dark and earthy and psychedelic folk, which there is unfortunately very little to be heard, although there are some rare gems in amongst the inevitable tweeness of most 'dark' folk bands. I have not come across either band before but upon first hearing "A Black Sea", I became an immediate fan of both. On "A Black Sea" The Lion's Daughter & Indian Blanket weave an intricate tapestry of solemn violins, acoustic guitars and tragic words against a huge wall of heart crushing doom riffs, explosive percussion and harsh black metal vocals. It is beautiful to hear and could well be considered a masterpiece of folk doom metal. "A Black Sea" will be a major fixture on my playlist for a long time to come as I doubt I will ever get tired of hearing it. I hope these 2 great bands follow this amazing album with another collaboration sometime in the future. - Heavy Planet

Holy Nine Band Members, Batman! I’m not sure if there’s a classical term for a nine-piece band (novtet?), but that’s how many faces appear in the band photo on this album, a collaborative effort between St. Louis sludge squad The Lion’s Daughter and folksy Americana outfit Indian Blanket. No, this is not a split—it’s both bands playing at once. Picture (Motor)headgirl(school), but slower and more dynamic. In fact, this leans somewhat heavier towards the Americana side, with plenty of melodic post-sludge thrown in for good measure. In other words, picture the last couple Earth albums played simultaneously with the new Neurosis… Actually, I might hafta try that.

One thing I’m not big on is the duets between the clean singing and the harsh growls as heard on opener “Wolves.” They might be saying the same thing, but it sure doesn’t sound like it. Second track “Gods Much More Terrible” leans more heavily towards the latter, offering up a meaty stoner-doom riff beneath the bellowing—until a complete change of pace towards a mellow, meandering gypsy folk. These almost seem like separate songs, were it not for the distorted guitar fuzz consistently constant throughout. “Swann” even throws some frenetic, fast-paced, black-metal riffage into the mix. Can’t recall hearing that from Scott Kelly and company of late!

After a couple mellow numbers, “Sea of Trees” brings back the metal, another blackened sludge slice served with extra frostbite and a side of stringed instruments. But sure enough, “That Place” brings things back down with some Earthy tones that travel Across Tundras on U.S. Christmas before delivering a devastating doom riff to ruin the mellow mood. (See what I did there?)

Alas, if the last Earth was an eight and the most recent Neurosis a nine, let’s split the difference and give this one an 8.5. - Hellbound.CA

A Black Sea is an unexpected, but affecting collaboration between the folk act Indian Blanket and the black metal band The Lion's Daughter. A dark, brooding album that marries the two sounds creating a truly cinematic experience; it takes the listener trudging along outdoors in deep winter, as if directed by Darren Aronofsky.

The album begins with the deeply atmospheric song, Wolves. The strums of delicate acoustic guitars and the sorrowful fiddles are dexterously balanced with devastating doom metal passages. This blending continues into Gods Much Trouble, and the seamless transition between songs makes it seem as though the two pieces are one. More layers of fiddle and banjos further paint a picture of a lonesome journey through harsh hinterlands, paying homage to both bands' Missouri roots.

Swann is a more traditional Lions Daughter effort, with crushing blast beats and thrashing guitars that contrast nicely with the passages of haunting strings. A Song For the Devil is more of a traditional folk song and is steeped in dark images of shallow graves and the devil. Timeless Waters follows with a colorful, almost instrumental groove. The black metal riffs in Sea of Trees begin instantaneously and never abate through four and a half minutes.

The last two songs step the amplitude down from the towering metal riffs into the haunting sound of folk. A deep sadness comes through in That Place, a contemplative song with dark, lyrical imagery. The Black Sea ends on a moody cover of the classic Moonshiner, presenting an introspective and somber tone.

The entire album makes the listener feel as if they were on an epic and harrowing adventure. The two bands clearly experimented in creating musical landscapes, and this is a complete success. Each listen reveals new layers of sound, going deeper into the abyss. A Black Sea is a beast of an album.

Written by Ben Bowman - The Sludgelord

This release deserves someone smarter than me to talk about it. It’s that good. This collaboration fuses Black Metal, Folk music, Doom…and whatever you call bands like GIANT SQUID, INTRONAUT and MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT. Its more than just a fusion of two obviously good bands (That I never heard of), but a fusion of genres and styles I never thought possible. Strings, screams, banjos, chugging guitar riffs, soulful vocals…. It has everything. I don’t know what THE LIONS DAUGHTER or INDIAN BLANKET were doing before they created this masterpiece, and frankly I kind of don’t care. Both of those bands should merge permanently and continue to make epic songs like the eight on “A Black Sea”.

The only thing stopping this release from being on everyone’s “Top Albums of 2013” is lack of exposure. So it is up to you, the people reading this to not only immediately get this, but also spread the word about it. Heavy music needs releases like this. These are the albums that push music forward and raise the bar. In 2010, AGALLOCH was on everyone’s top album list because people respected how they unconventionally broke out from the norms of their genre with MARROW OF THE SPIRIT. This is on par, if not better than that. Yup, I went there.

Have I mentioned enough great bands in this review yet to express how much I respect this album? This is the company it’s in. They made a banjo heavy. What more do I need to fucking write!?!? Why are you still reading this?!

10/10 - Metal Temple

The Lion’s Daughter & Indian Blanket – A Black Sea (Good Die Young Music, US)

I haven’t had much time to reflect deeply on this album—a collaboration between St. Louis sludge outfit The Lion’s Daughter and folk outfit Indian Blanket—and as such nearly did not include it. However, I feel the results of their collaboration pack an emotional and visceral wallop. Americana and heavy metal have produced powerful fruit together, such as Agalloch, Cobalt and Panopticon, and at present I feel that this project is carrying the torch of those groups. As evidence, reflect on the extended genre-spanning malaise of “Swann,” or the arresting beauty presented in the instrumental “Timeless Waters.” I anticipate great things in this group’s future. - Invisible Oranges

I’ve been following The Lion’s Daughter for a while now and enjoyed their previous outings into the world of Blackened Sludge, so when I found out they were collaborating on an album with Folk group Indian Blanket I was intrigued.

I wasn’t sure what to expect upon pressing play, but it wasn’t this. I though it might be good, but this? This is a jaw-droppingly stunning album. In much the same way that Panopticon successfully incorporated bluegrass into Black Metal on their album Kentucky; The Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket, against all odds, have managed to successfully incorporate Folk into Sludge. The results are as astounding as they are fantastic.

If only I had heard and reviewed this at the end of 2013 it would probably have topped my end-of-year list I can tell you that now.

The album combines heaviness and softness in equal measure, using the best tools for the job depending on the needs of the song. Regardless of style it’s always dark, always emotionally charged and always tinged with melancholy.

Sludge Metal and acoustic passages; blast beats and strings; raw-throat shouts and delicate crooning; it’s all here. Taking the very, very best bits of bands like Neurosis, Isis, Year Of No Light, Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room then combining them with haunting Folk-inspired orchestration and Dax Riggs-style acoustics and vocals; this is a masterpiece of music awaiting discovery by any Metal fan looking for the best in unconventional heavy music.

To the cynical reader this may all smack of hyperbole, but the simple fact is that I absolutely love this album and it really is just that good. Do yourself a favour and get it immediately.

Absolutely brilliant. - Wonderbox Metal

A Black Sea is a collaboration between two St. Louis bands, the folk act Indian Blanket and the post/black metal band The Lion's Daughter. A dark, brooding album that marries the two sounds creating a truly cinematic experience. Both Indian Blanket and The Lion’s Daughter carry a versatile array of styles, and employ every one of them on this album. As a result, even though the overriding mood stays bleak, the album winds from churning sludge to delicate acoustic passages. The two bands clearly experimented in creating musical landscapes, and this is a complete success. Each listen reveals new layers of sound, going deeper into the abyss. A Black Sea is a beast of an album, highly recommended, dig it. - The Elementary Revolt

Let's face the facts; rarely is a collaborative effort really a collaboration. It ends up being dominated by one part or another, and thus lessons the appeal of the other. There is a fabled middle ground that exists, only in legend, where both sides contribute equally, and do something special, something outside of both of their respective spheres of influence. Both The Lion's Daughter and Indian Blanket are superpowers in their own right, doing what they do up to the standard of sheer excellence. But how could the two of them working together possibly work out for the betterment of both? The former, a St. Louis titan of sludge and doom, once shared space on the same 12" with the mighty Fister. The other, who boast in their lineup both a violinist, a banjo, and a mandolin, play the kind of folk rock that makes people who lack musical talent very jealous. But what would their crazy lovechild sound like? A few months, a press release, and a limited vinyl pressing later, "A Black Sea" came into existence, and quite possibly changed the way we'll view both bands.

The immediately influence of Indian Blanket is both a bold decision and a brilliant one, as "Wolves" begins with a solemn melody of string and voice, over the tapping of drums. But as waves of distortion begin wash over you, the track morphs into something else entirely. This mixture of emotion and rage comes to a head with the first gritty scream that crashes down on your head from above. The merger complete, the bands trade blows, light and heavy, without one ever dominating the other. In fact, their balance is frightening, in that it feels as if the two were tailor made for one another. Strings meet heavy chugging riffs early and often on "Gods Much More Terrible," though the bending of guitar strings and intense screams may have tilted the scales in one way or another. But with interjections, like that around the three minute mark, they create these anxious moments, waiting for the hammer to drop over the sound of a banjo. To hear the screams of The Lion's Daughter vocalist Rich Giordano collide with the sullen crooning of Indian Blanket's Joe Andert is a treat you are unlikely to top. The best call and response track on the album is "Swann," which sees both bands doing what they do best. You are soothed by streams of cleanly played strings, only to be blasted in the skull by a now well refined ball of sludge. When the two come together, you get well preserved and orchestrated chaos.

By the midway point, you have been thoroughly disheveled, and "A Song For The Devil" seeks to bring you down from that adrenaline high. With each strum of a clean guitar and Andert's soothing vocal tone, you feel yourself coming back down to Earth, ever wary of the oncoming darkness. And when the distortion returns about a minute into "Timeless Waters," it does so with a noticeable blues tinge, as if fresh from a side jam session. The song rises and falls, building to a peak of low rumbles, then coming back down. The hum and drum of the final minute, though, stands out in a big way. And in a grand oversimplification, "Sea Of Trees" quickly becomes the most straightforward track on the album, something that is sure to sound misleading at first glance. By no means is this abandoning the premise here, as both bands are present throughout. But this has the most raw appeal, hearing Giordano and company overload your speakers with crushing drums and a towering wall of guitar and bass. As if their unification was ever in doubt, "That Place" is the final shot to be fired. It begans, in earnest, as a soft acoustic ballad. Andert sings softly over clean guitars, with little sign of what is to come. But as the sound builds, you are eventually set off with a wave of atmospheric guitar, cut through with darts of violin.

It would be hard to imagine the end result of a heavy sludge band collaborating with a folk rock band. We, as humans, just don't have the mental capacity to piece that information together. You can wrestle with it, struggle with it, or even meditate on it; no help whatsoever. Instead, it would be worth your time to simply find the album, pick up a copy, and hit "play." It's exactly what you expected it to be, only completely different. It makes no sense whatsoever, and yet, somehow, makes all the sense in the world. This album, this "A Black Sea," is a musical contradiction of itself, in a way that no other album has ever been for us. It is a joint effort between two St. Louis powers that flows right down the middle of their respectively sound paths. I don't know how these two artists from opposite sides of the musical spectrum came together, but we may never hear something like this again. Is this album a softening of the beast that is The Lion's Daughter, or a handful of dirt rubbed into the face of Indian Blanket? Yes. Yes, it is.

9.5/10 - Sorrow Eternal

Here's something worth discovering: a collaborative venture between the St. Louis-based doom / sludge group The Lion's Daughter and Indian Blanket, a folk ensemble from the same city. The result is less a random hodge-podge of music, a confused hybrid, but more of a creative exploration (mostly) into doom music, but with the unexpected sonic qualities of instruments like the banjo and the violin added for good measure.

Whatever you want to call the music here, it's worth a listen. As I explored this album, I sometimes felt like a character in a horror movie walking through a haunted house, experiencing all the uncanny voices of that place stirring up at the same time, sharing their sadness and despair. Put another way, the haunting sound of the folk materials (check out the beginning of "Swann" or "Timeless Waters") lends flavor to the sludge that will soon follow. I also thought the banjo in "Gods Much More Terrible" was spot-on, the perfect addition to the surrounding mood. The banjo has been used in extreme music before—the most recent example I can think of is "Saattokoti" by Unkind—but there are certainly more opportunities to what it can do when placed in a doomier atmosphere. Its unique timbre, its little bursts of pluck and clang, has a melancholy aspect to it that fits well here. The best tracks here are those that tend toward the doomier side of things, but that don't forget the collaborative nature of this album. In this regard, I thought "Timeless Waters" succeeded where "A Song for the Devil" did not. The latter struck me as too folksy. Surprisingly, the equally folksy closing track was quite good.

All in all, this is a strong album, one that demonstrates what can happen when creative folks get together and discover new possibilities. - Sea of Tranquility

Hailing from St, Louis in Missouri, The Lion’s Daughter are a progressive blackened sludge band and this album is a collaboration with somber folk ensemble/fellow St. Louis occupants, Indian Blanket.

Despite forming back in 2007 the band didn’t release anything until 2011 but from there they filled their boots. two EP’s and a split release in that year set them on their way but it was 2013 that would see the band return with their debut album and some mightily impressive artwork. Entitled A Black Sea, The Lion’s Daughter open with Wolves and embarks upon a journey so diverse, thought provoking and progressive that I’m not sure my words can fully do it justice, I shall certainly persevere though!

Wolves is both the calm before the storm and the raging torrent that drags you beneath the surface all in one go! One moment a cautious, almost melancholy dirge, the next a savage roaring colossus of monolithic grinding riffs, anguished wails and not to mention the gnashing of teeth! First First is a heavier beast of burden but still finds the time to swing between clean vocals and the perverse tortured rasping of a torn soul!

First glimpsed in Wolves and then brought back into action for Swann is the sublimely used but agonizingly mournful strains of a solitary violin. It builds a massive amount of suspense and anticipation whilst adding to the bleak landscape that the band create. Swann though has other weapons of choice amongst its arsenal such as a rampaging onslaught of ferocious blast beats and frenetic riff-age that only give way to moments of more methodical intensity!

Oddly enough in moments of acoustic calm such as Song for the Devil, the band have sound that in my mind at least hints at a bizarre influence. It may be coincidence but I hope it isn’t, that The Lion’s Daughter share the same haunting sound and mood as UK folk band The Levellers, when said band play slow, hypnotic dirges that is! Timeless Waters has more of this kind of style but with a darker purpose, a whispered foreboding undertones and a hint that a full on doom offering is waiting just out of reach, never quite exploding to life!

The expected explosion does come though in a moderately paced raw sludge frenzy named Sea of Trees, a winter like bitter soundscape that once more sees the band use subtle, chant like vocals to keep up their magnificently atmospheric aura. That Place once more brings to mind said band from Song of the Devil, more so in fact but with a powerful, undulating undertone of raw aggression and a lyrical output that tugs at your heart strings and sticks in your mind.

It is a sad moment when Moonshiner comes to an end and brings this opus to its close. A Black Sea is an experience, not just an album and one that will stay with you forever! A subtle, graceful, violent expression of musical talent, atmospheric harmonies and emotive melodies!

[10/10] - Destructive Music

Alright, now THIS is what I’m talking about! If we’re gonna be serious about blending genres, let’s get fucking adventurous. Progressive sludge may have the momentum of molasses, but it gets extra sweet when it fully melds with folk sensibilities.

It flows best with a doomy backdrop and the more delicate instruments — like violin, banjo, and mandolin — front and center (dig that balance in “Gods Much More Terrible”). They even speed things up in tracks like “Swann”, packing a merciless wallop following the intro’s gently feinted strains. Echoes of the American Southwest radiate from the peyote-fueled acoustic spirit journey of “A Song for the Devil”, and “Timeless Waters” brings the bass up in a body-moving mantric instrumental opposite delicately shimmering strings. Bits of blackness creep deeply into “Sea of Trees” between confident gallops and triumphant battle cries, while curiously titled closer “That Place” brings things to a quietly mournful conclusion, dripping with nostalgia in all the right ways.
- See more at: http://lastrit.es/articles/670/id-still-rather-be-with-some-animals#sthash.XYKyGHt4.dpuf - Last Rites

This is a review of a joint effort between St. Louis, Missouri's The Lions Daughter and Indian Blanket which is called "A Black Sea" and released by Good Die Young Music and th e music is a mixture of black metal, sludge, doom, blues and folk.

"Wolves" which is also the first song on the album opens up with soft acoustic guitar playing along with some clean singing vocals a few seconds later along with some violins and other folk music instruments and then the drums and heavy guitars kick in as well as the music alternating between soft and heavy parts as well as adding in aggressive sounding screams.

"First First" begins with some drone soundscapes before adding in heavy guitar riffs and drums and then going into a cleaner direction for a few seconds and adding in violins which also leads to the song alternating between heavy and soft parts and you can also hear bass guitar in the background and after awhile t he guitar riffing starts utilizing some melody and spoken word parts are added in along with some aggressive screams a few seconds later and as time goes on by there is a brief use of mandolins and melodic clean singing vocals and as the song moves on there is a brief use of guitar leads being utilized.

"Swam" kicks in with dark ambient drone style sounds along with violins and folk instruments and a minute later fast black metal guitar riffs and blast beats from the drums kick in along with some aggressive screams and then the music slows down for a bit and then alternates between fast and slow parts as well as bringing in melodic vocals at times and halfway through the song the guitar riffing starts getting more melodic which also leads to the clean parts returning while also remaining heavy at the same time.

"Song For The Devil" opens up with soft acoustic guitar folk playing and a few seconds later folk instruments and melodic vocals kick in and there are no heavy guitars or aggressive vocals present in the song.

"Timeless Waters" starts up with folk instruments and acoustic guitars as well as adding in some distorted parts and after a couple of minutes elements of post rock are added into the song and the music is all instrumental.

"Sea Of Trees" makes it way in with heavy and melodic guitar and bass riffs along with some drums before adding in deep sludge style growls and then the music speeds up a bit along with some blast beats and guitar leads while also focusing more on a mid paced direction and after awhile melodic vocals are also added in

"That Place" is introduced with soft folk rock style acoustic guitars and a few seconds later violins along with other folk instruments are added in and after a couple of minutes melodic clean singing vocals are added into the song and halfway through the song drum beats and heavy guitar riffs are added in.

"Moonshiner" which is also the last song on the album begins with some acoustic guitar playing along with some melodic clean singing vocals a few seconds later and as time moves on by blues style guitar leads start coming in and out along with violins and folk instruments.

Song lyrics cover dark, apocalyptic and alcohol themes, while the production has a very strong, heavy and dark sound where you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording.

In my opinion this is a very great sounding joint effort between The Lions Daughter and Indian Blanket and if you are a fan of black metal, doom, sludge, and folk music, you should enjoy this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Wolves" "Swam" and "Sea Of Trees". RECOMMENDED BUY. - A Different Shade of Black Metal Zine

The Lion's Daughter has always invoked sonic evil, a sensory overload of pentagrams, and the band just keeps getting darker with age. "As The Sick Dream," the group's newest track from a split with Memphis's Nights Like These, shows the band delving deeper into black-metal blastbeats, with Rick Giordano's shout-sing sounding more badass than ever. It's a bold move, implying the band has little interest in slowing down after its unexpectedly effective collaboration with the folksy Indian Blanket. Then again, if the Lion's Daughter's version of maturation is a record that sounds like it was performed at night in a forest, we'll take it.
-Ryan Wasoba - Riverfront Times