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Alunah's Year in Review, Thanks to All Involved!

24/12/2012

2012! It's safe to say that in our 6 year history, this year has been our best! We released our second album, worked with some amazing people, played some great gigs, met new awesome people, caught the eye of Napalm Records and made a few end of year lists (read whose here). From a music point of view it's been our best, but we also suffered the loss of Soph's Dad John who was a big supporter of Alunah, we dedicated our upcoming vinyl to him and he will always be in our thoughts.

The year wouldn't have been what it was without the input from the following great key people, in no particular order:

Mark Hegadus at Psychedoomelic Records: He believed in us enough to release White Hoarhound on his legendary Austrian label. One of THE best things we've done.

Sebastian Muench and the whole team at Napalm Records / Spinning Goblin Productions: They will be releasing White Hoarhound on 12" vinyl on January 25th 2013, so proud to be on yet another legendary Austrian label.

Olivia Burr: Liv tirelessly sells our merch for us, provides transport when needed and handles all management queries for us!

Mona Miluski at Platinum PR: We came on board with German company Platinum PR to help promote White Hoarhound, and they have gone above and beyond to get us some amazing international press.

Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios: Greg recorded both of our albums, and did a sterling job on both. He totally gets us, and is an easy creative guy to work with.

Tony Reed at Heavy Head Co: Tony mixed, mastered and featured on White Hoarhound. He also re-mastered the album for vinyl, a top bloke with unlimited amounts of talent.

Mez at Heretic Promotions / Scruffy Murphys, Birmingham: Mez is our number 1 promoter of choice to work with, complete professional and all round good guy. His promotions company hosted our album launch gig this year. Mez now also comes out with us doing our sound engineering.

Alison Richards and Martin Newman at Oath Communications: An awesome duo who are working on a video for White Hoarhound as well as attending the majority of our gigs in 2012 filming and taking photos.

We must also mention the following bands, promoters, radio shows, webzines and podcasts who we've played with / for. Again, in no particular order and sorry to those we've missed:

A Pale Horse Named Death, Gentlemans Pistols, Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight, Gurt, Stubb, Arkham Witch, General, Desert Storm, Conan, Gods of Hellfire, Steak, Stone Axe, Arke, Ironrat, Gringo, Shebrew, Caravan of Whores, A Million Miles, Tairrie B and My Ruin, Baron Greenback, Desert Scene, Desert Fest, Heretic Promotions, Black Bullet Live, When Planets Collide, Kerrang Radio, Johnny Doom, Metal.de, Ripple Music, Metal Hammer Germany, Grip of Delusion Radio, Terrorizer Magazine, Soggy Bog, Core of Destruction Radio, 339 Metal, Doomantia, The Soda Shop, Fast 'n' Bulbous, 411 Mania, The Temple of Perdition, The Metal Observer, Via Nocturna, Unhallowed Nation, Planet Mosh, Skrikzine, Nocturnal Hall Magazine, Sludgelord, Sleeping Shaman, X Transmission FM, WCNI Radio, Femme Metal Webzine, The Obelisk, Black Sunday Magazine, MSN Entertainment, Metal Riot...

There are so many more, but not enough hours in the day to list them alll! Thanks to everyone basically, and special thanks to those who came to our gigs, brought our merch, brought us beer and shared our drunken ramblings!

In 2013 we will release our vinyl, carry on writing for our third album, play with The Sword, Lonely Kamel and Black Moth, tour Europe including Heavy Days in Doom Town Festival in Denmark, and hopefully meet a load more awesome people! Here's to a happy new year, these were our most viewed blog posts and images of 2012...

Top 5 Most Viewed Blog Posts

1. She Came, She Saw, She Rocked Out with her Cock Out

2. Alunah Sign with Napalm Records / Spinning Goblin Productions

3. Download Alunah's White Hoarhound for Free

4. Alunah to Support The Sword

5. Terrorizer Magazine Hail Alunah as Future of Doom

Top 10 Most Viewed Images of 2012

Comments

White Hoarhound Featured on End of Year Lists

20/12/2012

Comments

As the first end of year lists start to roll in for 2012, it's nice to see White Hoarhound featured on some of them. Thanks to US station WCNI Radio, UK webzine The Sleeping Shaman, US webzine Fast 'n' Bulbous, US webzine 411mania.com and Norwegian webzine Skrikzine.

> WCNI Article

WCNI Radio

Thanks to The Asylum on WCNI Radio for featuring "Demeter's Grief" in their 2012 Year of Review! Again, alongside some awesome bands including Meshuggah, Graveyard, The Sword, Orange Goblin and Swans!

> Sleeping Shaman Article
> Sleeping Shaman Review

The Sleeping Shaman

Thanks to Ollie from Grifter for including us in his "2012... A Year in The Rock" for The Sleeping Shaman alongside Orange Goblin, Black Magician, Lord Fowl, Mos Generator and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell.

"The award for most improved band has to go to Alunah. Their previous efforts have shown a band with a real knack for song writing that had yet to find their feet, yet their first release on Psychedoomelic Records, “White Hoarhound” showed a leap forward in every sense from the song writing to Soph’s far stronger vocals to the more expansive and orchestrated production. A truly world class effort, it’s understandable they are moving on up to a new home at Napalm/Spinning Goblin Records for the vinyl release of the album"

> Ripple Music Article
> Ripple Music Review

Ripple Music / Ripple Effect

Ollie and Swedebeast both included us in their top albums of 2012, massive thanks for all the support we've had from Ripple Music in 2012!

> Black Sunday Article
> Black Sunday Review
> Black Sunday Interview

Black Sunday Magazine

This year we got reviewed and interviewed by the awesome people at Black Sunday Magazine, the home of all things doom, metal, macabre and strange... perfect for us! Big thanks going out for all the support they have given us this year.

> Metalmouth.net Article

Metalmouth.net

Big thanks to Jay at Metalmouth.net for placing us 11th in his top 20, here's what he said...

"Doooom! You’re all DOOOOOOMED!! And we love it! The follow up to their debut album “Call of Avernus’ here is another band growing to become something monstrous. The pick up in the 7 1/2 minute opening track ‘Demeter’s Grief’ is wicked. There you are, slowly banging your head with your eyes closed and then it ups tempo and you’re found with an air guitar in your hand smiling like a loon and thinking…”Fuck me this is only the opening track…what next!” Well fret not doomsters, the rest of the album is immense, so light up the candles, draw the curtains, strip naked and dance around to the soundtrack of the ritual your mother never let you go to!"

> Fast 'n' Bulbous Article
> Fast 'n' Bulbous Album of the Week & Review

Fast 'n' Bulbous

Fast 'n' Bulbous not only made White Hoarhound album of the week back in September, but they have also put us in the top 33 DOOM section of their extremely comprehensive "Fester's Lucky 14: 2012 Year-End Summary". We also came 49th out of their overall top 100!

> 411mania.com Article
> 411mania.com Hammer of Doom
> 411mania.com Album of the Week

411 Mania

Thanks to Robert Cooper for his honorable mention of Alunah alongside Black Breath and Wodensthrone. He also included us in his "Hammer of Doom" end of year review, featuring us in his top 50 albums of the year. In September, he bestowed the prestigious "Album of the Week" upon White Hoarhound also.

"These are three bands that I discovered this year and really enjoyed, but since I wasn't sure if they'd quality for "New Artist", I decided to give them the HM. Alunah - This pretty awesome stoner/doom band out of England have been around for about 5 years. Their second album dropped earlier in the year, and they have a pretty heavy sound, some good riffs,and they're female fronted, and it's not a gimmick, because this girl rocks. (Some bands have it as a gimmick, like that shit band, Butcher Babies, that are touring with Marilyn Manson soon, all tit, little talent)"

> Skrikzine.com Article
> Skrikzine.com Review

Skrikzine Webzine

Thanks to our Norwegian friends at Skrikzine who featured us in their top 25 with Witch Mountain, Mark Lanegan, Neurosis, Baroness & others!

> Temple of Perdition Article
> Temple of Perdition Review

The Temple of Perdition

Our friend Matt from the awesome Bastard of the Skies, included us in his top 20 for The Temple of Perdition. Cheers Matt!

> Dr. Doom's Lair Article
> Dr. Doom's Lair Review

Dr. Doom's Lair

Thanks to Dr. Doom for putting White Hoarhound at number 39 in his top 50 best albums of 2012.

Comments

Ripple Music (usa) Review Alunah's White Hoarhound

29/9/2012

Comments

PsycheDOOMelic has a gem on their hands here and they are doing the world a huge favour by releasing Alunah's second full-length album White Hoarhound. This quartet from the Midlands, England has a lot of weight on their shoulders playing doom and hailing from the same area that spawned the forefathers of doom, Black Sabbath.To my ears though they have no worries about this at all, instead they conjur some deft and highly original and magic-inducing heaviness. Already at the first note I am hooked and completely captivated.

Every time I listen to White Hoarhound a line from Masters Of Reality's song High Noon Amsterdam keeps popping up..Stuck my nose in a rose in a hole and it felt like a dream. For me that sentence is the essence of Alunah. Their music is lead-heavy, trippy, slow and riff-ladden and also very evocative, so all these ingredients are why the words of Masters Of Reality epitomizes what Alunah are and play. So light it up, toke, stick your nose in the hole and let Alunah take you on a headfuck of a space trip of unsurpassed magnitudes!

The music is of course a key factor in creating Alunah's spaced-out heaviness but let's not forget Soph Day. The vocalist/ guitarist's voice is so beautiful and entrancing that it elevates the band to dimensions beyond the sun. While she on the one hand sounds very delicate and almost frail, on the other hand she has immense power and this combination is absolutely fantastic. Her singing backed by the excellent band makes Alunah and White Hoarhound just about other-worldy.

Gaz Imber and Jake Mason are laying down the law on bass guitar and drums respectively. Whether the music is heavy or a bit softer, they keep it together perfectly allowing Dave Day and Soph to space-out, jam and riff without any restraints. And that's an awesome trait which unshackles their music. In all it's heaviness there is a beautiful flow thanks to Alunah's unrestrained musicality.

Another important ingredient for the band is their pagan leanings and their love for Mother Nature. The first song, Demeter's Grief, is a good example of this. However Mother Nature is a constant presence in whatever Alunah do. And the combination of the heavy music, Soph's awesome etheral yet powerful voice and the pagan/nature themes in their songs are what makes Alunah so great!

Surprises are nice when they bring something good. I consider myself a doomhead but I still hadn't really heard of
Alunah until I was asked to check them out for a possible review. And what a surprise White Hoarhound is. Each listen gives a new nuance adding more to the band's greatness each time. If you like excellent epic music White Hoarhound is a must. If you simply like great music period you're a fool if you don't add this album to your collection. Get a copy, listen and get mesmerized and then spread the gospel of Alunah to everyone you know!

--Swedebeast

http://ripplemusic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/alunah-white-hoarhound.html

Comments

Alunah's Year in Review, Thanks to All Involved!

White Hoarhound Featured on End of Year Lists

Ripple Music (usa) Review Alunah's White Hoarhound

Alunah Blog

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