Cough / The Wounded Kings - An Introduction To The Black Arts - 180 GRAM 12" (Forcefield)

Probably the heaviest, most mind-expanding split release of the year. Featuring a track apiece from UK doom sensations THE WOUNDED KINGS and Richmond, VA’s fuzzed-out riff worshippers COUGH, "An Introduction to the Black Arts" comes on 180 gram vinyl!

On Side A, COUGH’s "The Gates of Madness" crawls through nearly twenty minutes of distorted, tortured doom, dragging leaden feet towards a half-dug grave. Heavier than sin and as hopeless as a murderer’s prayers, this Richmond quartet recently joined forces with Relapse Records to release their second full-length, "Ritual Abuse. The cursed influence of ELECTRIC WIZARD, GRAVES AT SEA, drug lust, hard living and lonely Southern nights have coalesced into a many-headed beast that wishes nothing but ill unto its fellows. So high, so dead...

Side B summons the gorgeously crafted, mournfully executed notes of Dartmoor, England’s THE WOUNDED KINGS, whose deeply affecting, occult-laced take on the traditional side of doom has earned them an outpouring of accolades including an invitation to last year’s edition of the prestigious Roadburn festival. "Curse of Chains" will grab you by the heartstrings and drag you to your knees - fifteen plus minutes of doom as it should be done. Haunting words soar high above a crushing swath of riffage and deathly tempo, draped under a veil of apocalyptic sadness, occult ritualism, and sweet melancholia. Fans of WARNING, CANDLEMASS, REVEREND BIZARRE, rejoice; this is a love song for the end of the world...