True Widow: As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth

This is True Widow's second album released in 2011.  For the uninitiated, they combine Nicole Estill's ghostly, detached vocal with Dan Phillips' bleakly heavy guitars on tracks such as Jackyl and Skull Eyes.  The latter of these is one of their shortest tracks and one of their most accessible, with some fine harmonies over bludgeoning riffs.  The Phillips-sung Blooden Horse is one of the rockier tracks here, while his guitar on NH sounds particularly ragged.

Wither features some really fine guitar playing, Phillips unleashing economic yet effective braincrushingly heavy riffs.  Later, the lengthy Boaz builds up gradually, with the full onslaught holding off for four minutes or so before guitars take flight, while Night Witches and Doomser are practically metal on ketamine, trudging along with huge riffs.  If you like your guitars heavy yet controlled, this is worth checking out.

Album Review: True Widow

True Widow are a Texan trio who deal in heavy riffs and very controlled, regular tempos.  Their self-titled debut album, released in 2008, contains ten tracks of heavy riffage, with guitars stomping crankily all over some pretty downbeat melodies.
 

Dan Phillips handles most of the vocals, but Nicole Estill memorably handles two of the album highlights, Duelist and Bleeder, the latter of which features particularly pleasing guitar work.  A vocalist not dissimilar to Low's Mimi Parker, her voice mixes well with the bludgeoning guitars.

On Minor It Down and Flat Black they sound like a restrained Sonic Youth, Phillips' vocal reminiscent of Thurston Moore,  Mesh Mask drags a bit, like distorted Beck (circa Sea Change), while funeral-paced final track K.R. is probably the most 'metal' moment on the album and the longest thing here.  At times the tracks can be over long and there isn't much variety but they do one, very bleak thing pretty well.