Band to watch: Wooden Stake

“Skullcoven”

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I don’t remember how I discovered Wooden Stake. That happens these days, when my introduction to most bands is via badly tagged promo MP3s. But I do remember playing “Skullcoven” over and over again when I heard it. In fact, I still do. That voice! Those riffs! This atmosphere! It’s heavy, creepy, and primitive. There’s a lot of female-fronted “occult rock” now, and while I like that stuff, I like this even more: DOOM.

Wooden Stake are a young band, having formed last year and already put out two EPs and two splits. YouTube has some of the EP tracks, and, honestly, they’re not much to recommend. Wooden Stake are a duo, Vanessa Nocera on vocals/bass, and Elektrokutioner on everything else. (They also have a sturdy death metal band called Scaremaker.) On the EP tracks, Elektrokutioner the guitarist isn’t up to par with Elektrokutioner the drummer. So the playing is extremely loose. “Skullcoven” is rickety, too, but Elektrokutioner has pulled things together enough so that the ricketiness is more charming than distracting.

“Skullcoven” appears on Wooden Stake’s forthcoming debut album, Dungeon Prayers & Tombyard Serenades. Splits with Blizaro and Druid Lord just came out, and a split with UK doomsters The Wounded Kings is in the works! That’s an interesting pairing. I am really feeling “Skullcoven” and think Wooden Stake are a band to watch.

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WOODEN STAKE LINKS

MySpace
Facebook
YouTube channel

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