If you're a cosmic doom band, then the idea of blasting out a single song as an album is very appealing. But if you're a cosmic doom band that loves vinyl? Better to record two 20-minute songs--one for each side. Yeah, that hits the spot.

Clouds Taste Satanic Evil Eye (self-released)

This Brooklyn outfit has plenty of cheek to go with its lofty ambitions (witness the names of some previous efforts: Your Doom Has Come, To Sleep Beyond the Earth, The Glitter of Infinite Hell, Dawn of the Satanic Age). I like a band that can both churn sludge and leave a smile in my ears.

Did I mention that this is an instrumental doom outfit? That is so cool. No worries about dumbing down the music so a singer can be heard. Fuck that. Just blast out mind-rattling chunks of riffage and lovely lead guitar. On and on until the apocalypse.

I think the reason doom bands like long songs is that they don't want to rush. This is a sound that encourages something below 60 bpm, after all. Clouds Taste Satanic may have put together two lengthy works here, but they're hardly a slog. The stories they tell are marvelous.

Jon Worley