Thulsa Doom

Begun as a side project by leading Norwegian underground producer and Black Debbath guitarist Ole Petter Andreassen, Thulsa Doom formed in Oslo in 1999 and is named after James Earl Jones' Snake King character in Conan the Barbarian. Rechristening himself El Doom, he drafted singer Papa Doom, guitarist Doom Perignon (see a pattern developing here?), bassist Angelov Doom, and drummer Fast Winston Doom. And yet, traditional doom metal this is not; not only because of the obvious sense of humor involved, but also because Thulsa Doom rarely resorts to the ultra-slow grinds peculiar to the genre, often choosing to blast full-speed ahead in stoner-metallic fashion instead. Full of surprises, their first effort, a five-song EP called She F***s Me, was released by Spanish label Safety Pin Records in May 2000 and quickly attracted an underground following for the group. This, in turn, landed the group a deal with California-based indie This Dark Reign, for whom they recorded 2001's acclaimed full-length debut, the cryptically named The Seats Are Soft but the Helmet Is Way Too Tight. One of the album's standout tracks, "Birthday Pony," was also included in 2002's Rebirth of the Heavy compilation and Thulsa Doom's second album, to be exhaustively called And Then I'll Take You to a Place Where Jars Are Kept, is scheduled for a mid-2003 release.