The Sword’s 2010 release, Warp Riders, is an unironic slab of monolithic Sabbath-y riffs as interpreted by a Texas band with early ZZ Top flowing in their bloodstream. At least that’s the way I hear it. This is The Sword’s first appearance in Columbus since a sold-out January 2009 date at the Ravari Room. The Sword is on tour with Kyuss Lives (too bad we couldn’t get THAT bill here) and doing Columbus as a one-off. Not to be outdone, Black Cobra’s latest, Invernal, sounds like Ministry without the industrial noises. Pretty hardcore and in-yer-muthafuckin-face if you ask me (did you?).

Tickets for The Sword show are $15 at the door.

Porch Stage (2nd stage)

Bomba Estereo

Columbus’s own Nick Tolford

George Jones was the headliner today

Now for very many more photos from yesterday’s festival!

The park had these “Eco-Facts” everywhere.

Hex Net

Justin Townes Earle

Whale Zombie from Athens

Some dirty hippies across the road. (I keed I keed…) No I don’t.

George Jones is very old

Donewaiting’s own Joel Oliphint introducing Nick Tolford & Co!

Mount Carmel, also from Columbus

It started raining right before Bomba Estereo from Columbia came on.

No one seemed to mind.

The Growlers from California closed out the night on the Porch Stage.

For very very more photos of these bands and other happenings visit my page.

MP3: Birds of Maya – Regulation Side A

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE – SUPER EPIC FACEMELTER OF A SHOW ALERT

Philly cats Birds of Maya just released a 3 song double lp called “Ready to Howl”.

Columbus dudes Mount Carmel just released their first record on Siltbreeze.

Other Columbus guys Churches Burn never sleep.

This Cafe Bourbon St. show is gonna be loud and rad as hell.

Birds of Maya liveness after the jumpy jump

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mount Carmel has been getting some local love on the message board recently, and the band’s profile is sure to grow before our very eyes with news of the trio’s next record coming out on Siltbreeze — an especially familiar name in Columbus b/c of Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit and ex-pat Pink Reason, all of whom have releases on the boutique Philly label. (Good work, Columbus.)

Ah, but don’t start the gripefest just yet, shitgaze haters. If you’re not familiar with Mount Carmel, this trio — Kevin Skubak and brothers Pat and Matthew Reed — gets compared to Cream whenever I hear their name come up. So you’re more likely to catch them playing with fellow blues-rock lovers The Main Street Gospel than with local Siltbreeze labelmates.

Still, it’s blues-rock under the influence of Siltbreeze’s longtime Ohio affiliate Mike Rep. And maybe it’s not such a big leap for Siltbreeze after all, given TNV’s infatuation with the ’60s. Now Mount Carmel brings us the ’70s. (I know, Cream broke up in ’69. But you get what I mean.)

Anyway, as Pat Reed tells Donewaiting, “We went to Musicol with Mike [Rep] and Adam Smith for a day this summer. They set a bunch of mics and stuff up and we played. We had a real fun time.” Rep and Smith also mixed the album, which Reed says should be around 40 minutes and is due to come out in late February or March on Siltbreeze.

Upcoming Mount Carmel shows in Columbus:
11/6: The Treehouse w/ Brainbow, Val
11/23: Carabar w/ Earthless
12/26: Carabar w/ Nick Tolford and Company

In-the-studio video of the song “Still Listening” after the jump: