Sabazius - Sympathy For The Devil

Right, no updates for a while 'cause I been busy with Xmas stuff like watching all of Babylon 5 in a row (only got half way through the 2nd season and >1 week of 2 weeks holiday, things not looking good for this mission) and general festivity. Fortunately some of my friends have been less idle over the holiday period. Once again the kindly folks known as Sabazius (i.e. Nev and Steve) have released a free MP3 single for you all to download. This one's a cover of Sympathy For The Devil by the Rolling Stones. I don't know the original so no idea what it's meant to sound like, but I'm guessing it's not 25 minutes of doom! Anyways, message from the band follows:

Merry Christmas from Sabazius!

As a free gift, we offer our cover version of the Rolling Stones classic, 'Sympathy for the Devil', from midnight (UK time) 25th December 2008 as a free download!

The zip file also contains a front cover designed by our good friend Smudge (cheers mate)! Click here to download.

Have a great Christmas, and remember to spare a thought for Satan this time of year!!

So there you have it. Might be a while before I post anything else, lots of Babylon 5 to get through!

192Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Mediafire

Sabazius at Myspace

The Menagerie - Wild Kingdom

The Menagerie were a Brighton based hip-hop collective who now seem to have become somewhat defunct. They released this one album, but never managed to finish off their 2nd though there are 4 tracks from the sessions on their Myspace player. The album features Nick Maxwell on the decks and the lyrical stylings of Dr Syntax and Elemental. They were joined by Koaste shortly after the recording of this album, and he also features on the newer tracks.

I discovered these guys through Elemental after stumbling across his Cup Of Brown Joy video on Youtube. I would also throughly recommend checking out Elemental and Mr Simmonds' album The Gentlemens Club which is available from Rarekind Records in Brighton, or on iTunes if you will stoop to such levels.

Anyways, the music is pretty chilled out and groovy Brighton hip-hop covering a variety of topics. Was listening to it the other day and my housemate wandered in and commented that it was a bit jazzy for me, so take from that what you will.

160Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Mediafire

The Menagerie at Myspace

sEAMOUNt - ntodrm

Don't know much about these guys, apart from that they are awesome! A fusion of many different metal styles, at times they remind of me Grand Magus, Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne's solo stuff, NWOBHM bands like Blitzkrieg and there's even a bit of an AC/DC sound in there at points. I stumbled across them on one of my many bored wanderings through Myspace and was pleased to see that they had a link to download their album for free.

Lots of slow and heavy riffage, though more of a warm 70s sound than the usual heavy sludge, and some nice lead guitar and more up-tempo grooves. This is one album you really don't want to miss. These German doom mongers have produced one of the best albums I've heard this year.

256Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Mediafire

sEAMOUNt at Myspace

They also have a few covers as bonus tracks available in WAV format from Mediafire (they're pretty big)!

Don't Let It Bring You Down (originally by Neil Young)
Music (originally by Witchfinder General)